The risk of the Yemen war fully reigniting is growing, following a series of strikes by the Iran-backed Houthis on targets inside the country and across the border in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis fired on the southern Saudi region of Najran last week and on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery on Sunday. Over the same period, they launched dozens of missiles and drones at what it said were military sites in the center and east of Yemen, and on the Red Sea port of Mokha. The Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government of Yemen said it had retaliated.
Dozens of people have been killed in these strikes, and both sides risk falling into a pattern of escalation. The 12-year-old war, largely frozen since 2022, is heating up. The situation in Yemen has its own dynamics independent of the US-Iran war, but the Houthis’ close ties with Iran and attacks on ships are part of a widening, low-intensity conflict.