Houthi Chief's Red Sea Sweep Rattles Saudis
Houthi Chief's Red Sea Sweep Rattles Saudis
The News
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the elusive commander of Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, has scored his biggest military victory in years after his fighters swept through Yemen's Red Sea coastline, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The advance tightened the group's grip on a vital shipping waterway and rattled Saudi Arabia, the oil superpower on Yemen's northern border.
Al-Houthi commands what Reuters describes as a battle-hardened force, and the offensive has lifted the standing of a leader who has stayed largely out of public view.
Timeline
Reuters reports that the Houthi sweep along Yemen's Red Sea coast has delivered al-Houthi his biggest military win in years and tightened the group's control of the waterway.
The left-wing magazine Jacobin publishes its own assessment, arguing the Ansar Allah movement — the Houthis' formal name — is fighting to win Yemen's civil war outright while the wider US-Israel confrontation with Iran works in its favor.
Reactions
Reuters casts the offensive as a shock to Riyadh, saying the Houthi push along the coastline rattled Saudi Arabia and strengthened the hand of a commander it calls enigmatic and elusive.
Jacobin argues the advance has exposed Saudi weakness, and that Ansar Allah is likely to benefit from the instability created by the regional escalation between the United States, Israel and Iran.
What's Next
The open question is whether the Houthis can convert coastal gains into an outright win in Yemen's civil war — the goal Jacobin says the movement is now fighting for.
For Washington and Riyadh, the near-term issue is control of the Red Sea shipping lane, which the group has drawn tighter since the offensive began.
More
The Houthis are aligned with Iran, and their fight is entangled with the broader regional escalation driven by the US-Israel conflict with Tehran, according to both Reuters and Jacobin.
Poll
How should the US respond to the Houthi grip on the Red Sea?
Danone Recalls Vegan Ice Cream Over Stones
Feds Paid $9.5 Billion Not to Work
Sep 16, 2026
MoD Names British Major Killed in Ukraine Crash
Sep 16, 2026
Pentagon Screens Troops by Waistline for Hegseth Speech
Sep 16, 2026
Travis Kelce Named Victim in $35M Ponzi Scheme
Sep 16, 2026
House Flees Town, Punts Hegseth Impeachment Vote
Sep 16, 2026
Stanford Grows Human Brain Tissue Inside Mice
Sep 16, 2026
Amazon Lifts Minimum Pay to $20 an Hour
Sep 16, 2026
Family Sues Paxton Over Texas Woman's Pregnancy Death
Sep 16, 2026
Every Opening Act Quits Sheeran Tour Over Macklemore
Sep 16, 2026
'Putney Pusher' Suspect Found Dead at London Home
Sep 16, 2026
US Officials Secretly Met Houthis in Oman
Sep 16, 2026
Fed Weighs Rate Hike as Borrowing Costs Surge
Sep 16, 2026
Saudi-Backed Yemeni Forces Escalate Strikes on Houthis
Sep 16, 2026
Four Jailed Over Heathrow Tear Gas Luggage Plot
Sep 16, 2026
Kirk Family Files Claim Over UVU Security Failures
Sep 16, 2026
Retail Sales Jump 1.2% in August Rebound
Sep 16, 2026
Sudan Gold Mine Collapse Kills at Least 67
Sep 16, 2026
US Curbs Visas for South African Officials
Sep 16, 2026
Russian Drone Kills Five on Ukrainian Bus
Sep 16, 2026
Sep 16, 2026