A month ago, the Houthis stunned the region with a lightning push down Yemen’s western coast. This week, the fight over what they won is the loudest thing happening around the Red Sea, and the story changes almost by the hour.
The coast they took
The offensive began in early September. Houthi fighters reached the port city of Mokha, then moved offshore to seize nearby islands, including Mayyun Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Government sources said they reached Dhubab too, and one told AFP the Houthis had completed their takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb area. Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Sanaa put it simply: the Houthis “have the strong hand now.”
The strait is not just another stretch of water. It is the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the approach to Saudi oil terminals, a route that lets Gulf crude reach Europe without passing through Hormuz.
Now the counteroffensive
The mood shifted on Monday. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government said its forces had retaken Mokha after fierce fighting and captured key locations around Bab el-Mandeb. It also announced a “strategic offensive” aimed at Sanaa, the capital the Houthis have held since 2014.
The Houthis say none of it is true. On Tuesday, a spokesman insisted their fighters retain “full control over all their gains on the ground,” and denied Mokha had fallen. With both sides claiming the same ground, nobody outside the fighting can say with confidence who holds what, so it’s worth treating every announcement with some caution.
Riyadh in the crosshairs
The war has not stayed on the coast. On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed a ballistic missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, saying it caused damage but offering no evidence. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two missiles fired toward the capital and a third toward Khamis Mushait in the southwest, and that it destroyed a launch platform in Sanaa.
Saudi officials also said attacks on the Riyadh and Abha airports had killed three people, the first deaths since Saudi and allied Yemeni forces began their major ground and air offensive. It is a grim marker. Until now, much of the fighting felt like something happening to Yemenis. Deaths at airports in the Saudi heartland make it feel closer to everyone else.
The human cost
Behind the maps and claims are people leaving their homes. Reporting by The Express Tribune, drawing on Al Jazeera, put the number displaced since the start of September at more than 82,000. Yemeni government-aligned National Resistance Forces said they lost around 500 soldiers killed and roughly 1,500 wounded between August 9 and September 10 alone. Airstrikes and ground fighting have inflicted heavy casualties on both sides, and the figures from each camp are difficult to verify independently.
Markets and neighbours watch closely
Oil markets have so far kept their nerve. Brent crude slipped below $100 a barrel on Tuesday despite the fighting, which suggests traders are betting the strait stays open. Israel, meanwhile, has reportedly raised its naval readiness as the Houthis gained ground near Bab el-Mandeb.
For Pakistani readers, there is a closer connection too. CNBC reported that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed to deploy forces and activate “deterrence measures” against the Houthis after the airport attacks. I could not find a detailed public account of what that means in practice, and Islamabad has previously stressed that its defence arrangement with Riyadh is about deterrence rather than joining someone else’s war. It is a development to watch rather than one to read too much into just yet.
Where this leaves things
A month after the Houthis seized the coast, the picture is unsettled. Yemeni government says it is pushing back, the Houthis say they are holding firm, and Saudi cities are now absorbing missile fire. Shipping lanes that the world depends on sit right in the middle of it.
What seems certain is that the next few days will matter. Either the counteroffensive turns claims into facts on the ground, or the Houthis prove they can keep what they took. Either way, ordinary people along the Red Sea coast will carry the cost.
References
- The Express Tribune, “Fighting, displacement in Yemen deepen humanitarian crisis along its Red Sea coast,” September 2026
- Al Jazeera, “Houthis control key shipping route after gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast,” September 11, 2026
- The Tribune (India), “Houthis claim new missile attack on Riyadh airport as Saudi Arabia reports interceptions,” October 8, 2026
