• Iran-backed Houthi fighters advance into coastal towns and Perim Island, securing full control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and tightening their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
• A Houthi official assures that freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb remains safe and orderly following the group’s advances along Yemen’s coastline.
• Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref praises the victories of Yemen following Houthi expansion along the Red Sea coastline.

Saudi Civil Defense says danger has passed in Sharurah

Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense says the danger has passed in Sharurah Governorate, after an earlier alert warned residents of a potential threat.

In a post on X, the authority urged people to continue following Civil Defence instructions and to avoid gathering or filming.

Yemen’s Houthis have specialized stealth warfare tactics

The Saudi strikes and counteroffensive are mainly focused on retaking the city of Mocha and the districts south of the city close to the Bab al-Mandeb strait, starting with Saudi air strikes. The counteractive strikes are targeting both longstanding Houthi-held territory and areas recently captured by the group.

The Houthis were expecting a counteroffensive to try to recapture these areas by the Saudis and their allies.

The group was prepared because its fighters have specialised in stealth warfare tactics and strategy, where they’re able to take over areas and hide their weapons, their launching pads, as well as their air defence radars.

This is a problem that the US and Israel previously faced in the past as they tried to destroy the military capabilities of the Houthis and their ability to launch ballistic missiles at Israel-bound vessels.

Both the US and Israel failed in achieving their military objectives against the group because the Houthis were able to dig in, evade and/or not be tracked by the vastly superior technology of the Americans and the Israelis.

In order for Saudi Arabia or the internationally recognised Yemeni government to be successful, they will need a military presence in the south of the country all the way to where the biggest military base is now under the control of the Houthis, as well as the biggest weapons depot that was captured by the group on Thursday.

It’s going to take a major military offensive to try to regain these territories from the Houthis, and it seems that the Yemeni government is committing to this military campaign to try to recover the strategic lands that they’ve lost.

IRGC hails Houthi advance as ‘divine triumph’

Iran’s IRGC has congratulated the Houthis for their seizure of the Red Sea coast.

The Houthis’ advance represents a “divine triumph and the fruit of years of steadfastness in the most difficult of battlefields”, IRGC spokesman Sardar Mohebi wrote on X.

Iranian officials have lavished praise on the Houthis over the past day, with Mohammad Mokhber, adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, saying that “the homegrown resolve of the resistance have driven the US and its allies into a tactical and strategic impasse”.

Hundreds of Yemeni refugees arrive in Djibouti

About 500 refugees from Yemen have reached the coastal city of Obock in Djibouti, an official says.

The group included women and children “rescued at sea from boats stranded without fuel”, Djibouti’s Minister of Economy and Finance Ilyas Dawaleh wrote on X, adding that Djiboutian institutions are conducting rescue operations and providing emergency assistance.

At least 46,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since fighting escalated last week, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

The figure is rising “by the hour”, the agency warned.

Yemen’s government forces target Houthi sites

Yemen’s government has released footage showing its forces targeting Houthi equipment and sites in Dhu Bab and the northern fronts.

Earlier, Iran-aligned Houthi forces said they have seized full control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast following a rapid advance against government forces.

Tens of thousands of people displaced by Yemen’s latest fighting

Nearly 50,000 people have been forced from their homes amid the latest flare-up between the Houthis and government forces, according to the UN.

Families have been displaced for the second or third time, with entire villages said to have been abandoned, the International Organization for Migration said. Some 500 refugees traveled to Djibouti in recent days after being stranded at sea without fuel.

The displacements deepen an ongoing humanitarian crisis across Yemen, which has been gripped by a more than decade-long civil war.

Roughly 5.2 million people were already internally displaced before the latest round of fighting, the UN’s refugee agency said. An estimated 22.3 million people – more than half the population – require humanitarian assistance.

The World Food Program warned last year that Yemen’s “already critical acute food insecurity situation” was expected to deteriorate into 2026, with pockets of the population “projected to face catastrophe” in four districts under Houthi control.

Can the Houthis control the Red Sea?

Houthi forces have captured the whole of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, reaching all the way to the critically important Bab al-Mandeb shipping gateway, as the group’s rapid offensive continued on Friday.

On Thursday, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha, dealing a heavy blow to the Yemeni government backed by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Analysts are calling the group’s victories the most significant regional development since the US and Israel declared war on Iran in February.

The offensives could be particularly damaging for Saudi Arabia and its oil exports. The Houthis, who declared a blockade of Saudi-flagged ships in the Red Sea earlier in the year, now have a much firmer control of the Bab al-Mandeb waterway, which Riyadh increasingly relies on for oil exports following blockades of the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, experts say.

Yemeni government counteroffensive mostly consisting of aerial attacks

From Yousef Mawry, Sana'a

"The government counteroffensive mainly consists of air strikes accompanied by Saudi fighter jets, targeting any military gathering and weapon depots – anywhere there’s military arsenal being piled up and reinforced; that’s mainly what these fighter jets are targeting.

The reports that we’re getting are that most of the attacks are taking place south of Mocha, in the district of Dhubab, which fell under the Houthis.

With the takeover of Mocha and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Houthis have a larger landscape to work their asymmetric naval warfare. They’re now able to use short-range missiles as opposed to before the takeover, when they were only using long-range precision missiles.

So this counteroffensive is mainly through the leverage of air strikes – but let’s not forget, the Houthis have mastered the art of stealth warfare. They are able to take over ground and then just go into stealth mode; that’s the problem that the US and Israel had with trying to target Houthi military capabilities last year, and they failed in the matter.

So if the internationally recognised Yemeni government is going to be serious about a counteroffensive, it cannot just include air strikes. It has to include ground troops who advance in an on-the-ground military offensive to regain land. But that’s not happening; what’s happening right now is mostly air strikes."

Saudi-backed commanders in Yemen ‘nowhere to be seen’ on front lines

Hakim Almasmari, founder and former editor of the Yemen Post, says the rapid capture of strategic areas in southwestern Yemen by the Houthi rebels reflects the unity and dedication of their military forces.

“The Houthis are one united front whereas the internationally recognised government forces are under eight different leaderships, so you can’t unite and expect cooperation and coordination,” he said.

The quick withdrawal of Saudi-backed troops from strategically important areas occurred because of the failure of senior military commanders to lead their soldiers, said Almasmari.

“The Houthi leadership was on the ground in the west coast sea line; they were fighting on the front lines. That was not the case when it comes to the Saudi allies. They were nowhere to be seen on the front lines. So that was one of the main reasons. You can’t expect people or troops to sacrifice their lives if the leaders are not there with them.”

Yemen government forces confirm strikes on Houthis in Mocha

Yemen’s internationally recognized government has confirmed air attacks on Houthi forces after the rebels seized territory along the Red Sea coast.

“The armed forces destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed members of the Houthi terrorist militia backed by the Iranian regime,” near the port of the city of Mocha, the government news agency Saba reported.

The spokesman for the Yemeni government forces, Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, said they have also struck the Houthis’ “vehicles and members” on the Mocha-Dhubab road, 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the city, according to Saba.

Trump says Hormuz crisis, Saudi attack concerns will ‘work out just fine’

US ⁠President Donald Trump says everything will “work out ⁠just fine” when asked whether he could help ‌move crucial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The comments come during new concerns about ⁠Saudi Arabia after the rapid gains made by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and strikes on a critical oil pipeline in the kingdom.

“Everything ⁠will work out just fine,” Trump ⁠said, speaking in ⁠Dublin after ⁠meeting Irish President Catherine Connolly.

Houthi attacks ‘gravely threaten stability’, Spain warns

Spain’s top diplomat has cautioned against regional destabilization following the Houthis’ latest moves.

“The Houthi attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia gravely threaten stability in the region and maritime security,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares wrote on X. “De-escalation is urgent.”

Attacks against Gulf countries must stop, he added, and freedom of navigation must be guaranteed in the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb waterways.

Houthis celebrate seizing control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast

The Houthis have been celebrating after taking control of the Red Sea coast in a rapid offensive against Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

In response, government forces have launched strikes on Houthi positions as fighting escalates.

Houthis ‘continue to advance’ south despite Yemen government’s counteroffensive

The Yemeni government has been effective in targeting armoured vehicles and some of the ammunition depots in the city of Mocha.

They’ve also been successful in targeting some of the supply trucks that are carrying ammunition, weapons, drones, and missiles, according to authorities in the governorate of Taiz.

Yemeni government forces there waged air strikes on a convoy of supply trucks that were heading towards other Houthi positions to reinforce them.

It seems that the Houthis’ military strategy to avoid these warplanes, air strikes and attacks is to take out all of the weapons that they have seized in Mocha and surrounding areas – and take them into other locations under their control.

They seem to be prepared for what is expected to be an all-out aerial assault on Mocha, the port itself, the airbases and the command centers that came under the control of the Houthis.

However, as far as ground counteroffensives aimed at retracting and recovering some of those lands they lost to the Yemeni group, there are no reports of that – and in fact, the Houthis continue to advance further south without meeting face-to-face with government forces.

More than 46,000 people flee homes in Yemen amid recent fighting, IOM says

The latest fighting in Yemen has displaced tens of thousands of people, Abdusattor Esoev, chief of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Yemen mission, said.

“In the last few days, 46,000 people have fled their homes. By now, the number might be higher; we are trying to verify. The majority of them have been displaced within Yemen itself,” Esoev said.

He noted that in the Taiz governorate, the city of Mocha has fallen, and people are trying to move to Taiz city itself and also to other districts.

“In terms of needs for the people, the main need is emergency shelter. Of course, food, water and sanitation are also important. This is the main humanitarian assistance that we are trying to provide,” Esoev said.

He also stressed that Yemen is a country with the largest displaced population in the world. “Even before the current escalation, we had around 4.5 million people displaced within Yemen itself,” he noted.

“With the current escalation and also funding issues, the humanitarian situation is getting difficult,” Esoev added.

‘Highly unlikely’ the Houthis close down Bab al-Mandeb Strait

Territorial gains by the Houthis do not necessarily mean increased attacks on commercial vessels in the vital waterway, says Aaran Kennedy, a maritime security analyst with the global consultancy, Control Risks.

“These advances strengthen the Houthis’ already strong position over the Red Sea. They simply make it even easier for the Houthis to target shipping,” he told Al Jazeera. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that, right now, they’re going to expand their maritime target set.”

While some are suggesting Bab al-Mandeb could be closed down entirely, that scenario is unlikely, Kennedy predicts.

“Just because the Houthis have gained this territory near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to close it down. That situation remains highly unlikely. But what it does do is it expands their capabilities because it puts their weaponry closer to the Red Sea shipping lanes.”

Houthi control of Red Sea islands expands blockade capabilities

From Yousef Mawry, Sana'a

In the past, the Ansar Allah Houthis have been able to execute a successful blockade on Bab al-Mandeb, preventing Saudi shipping and Israeli-linked shipping from crossing the Red Sea.

That they were able to do this is unprecedented. Ballistic missiles were launched from 300km (186 miles) inland from mountaintops, hitting direct targets in the Red Sea. So the Houthis didn’t need full control or a total presence to execute a successful blockade.

What this does is expand their military capabilities, giving them more ground to work with. Instead of launching missiles and drones from 200km (124km) from Bab al-Mandeb, they’re now able to do this from the shoreline using short-range anti-shipping missiles or their “drone boats” to target Saudi vessels and tankers.

The group also has control over the Hanish Islands, north of Bab al-Mandeb, which serve as a water checkpoint and give the Houthis greater radar and monitoring capabilities over outbound and inbound traffic in the Red Sea. In addition, they can monitor ships coming from East Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden — something they were limited in doing before their takeover of this strategic position.

But as the group has announced, the only ships that will be prevented from crossing the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb are Saudi ships. If there’s a coordinated effort by international powers to attack the group, the Houthis have made clear they have no problem closing Bab al-Mandeb indefinitely.

With the Strait of Hormuz closed and Bab al-Mandeb closed, we’re talking about a 20-25-percent choke on the world’s gas and oil supply, and 10 percent of global shipping containers — a catastrophic blow to world trade and the economy.

Houthi source: 73 ships crossed Bab al-Mandeb over two days

A source in the Houthi Ministry of Transport has told Yemen’s Al-Masirah TV that 73 ships passed through the Bab al-Mandeb strait on September 10 and 11 – 36 on the first day and 37 on the second.

The source said Yemen’s ban on Saudi shipping has not affected the smooth flow of international maritime traffic through the strait, noting that the volume over the 48-hour period represented 98.6 percent of the average transit volume before the ban was imposed.

The source said these figures refute claims that international navigation through Bab al-Mandeb is at risk after the Houthi takeover of Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

UK expresses ‘solidarity’ with Saudi Arabia over Houthi attacks

The British government has expressed its “solidarity” with Saudi Arabia after attacks by Houthis in Yemen.

During a phone call with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, also affirmed the kingdom’s right to take “necessary measures to defend its security and resources under international law”, said the Saudi foreign ministry.

They also discussed “intensifying joint efforts” to ensure security and freedom of navigation in waterways and to protect global trade and supply chains from the effects of the current crisis, added the ministry statement.

Displacement in Yemen surpasses 76,000 as fighting intensifies

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned of a “rapidly worsening displacement crisis in Yemen unfolding by the hour” as fighting intensifies.

At least 76,000 people have fled their homes since July and the numbers “have nearly doubled overnight”, the IOM said. The total was 46,000 just days ago.

“Entire families are on the move, often at night. They have nowhere safe to go.”

Taiz in southwestern Yemen is the hardest hit, with nearly 50,000 people displaced. Almost 17,000 have fled their homes in Lahj in the south. Communications are affected and roads are increasingly impassable due to fighting.

“Many of these families have been displaced before, some multiple times, over 12 years of conflict,” the IOM said. The situation is “deteriorating by the day” and remains “volatile and unpredictable”.

IOM Director General Amy Pope has urged all parties to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and safeguard the delivery of essential emergency supplies.

Yemen’s displaced face ‘immense’ suffering as escalation drives further displacement

In a camp for displaced Yemenis in the Habashi district, people arrived after fleeing another displacement camp in a nearby area. When the war intensified between the two parties, they left immediately. Their suffering is immense.

“We need support from humanitarian organisations and from our government,” said one of the camp’s residents.

Whether in this camp or others, Yemen’s displaced are having a difficult experience. More than 5,600 families have been displaced during the latest escalation from al-Hudaydah, Taiz and Lahej. International organisations estimate the number of displaced people altogether at 46,000, particularly in western Taiz and along the western coast.

IOM: Yemen has world’s largest displaced population, funding ‘very difficult’

“Yemen is the country with the largest displaced population”, Abdusattor Esoev of the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) tells Al Jazeera.

“Before the current escalation, we had 4.5 million people displaced within Yemen, across different governorates”, he added, saying that “It is getting more and more difficult as the rate of malnutrition among children increases. We need to protect them. People in displacement camps have likely already been displaced once or twice in the past as well”.

Esoev said that the low funding and resources IOM receives make it very difficult to match the “urgent” needs of the displaced population.

“We have to make difficult decisions about who receives our assistance because we are short on funding”, he said.

Emergency alerts issued in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense has issued alerts for the Khamis Mushait Governorate and Abha city in Aseer Province, “to warn of a potential danger”.

People are advised to proceed to the nearest safe place and remain there until the danger has passed, the civil defence said.

Houthis say they freed 200-plus prisoners in newly captured regions

Yemen’s Houthis say that they had freed more than 200 of their members detained by Saudi-backed pro-government forces in areas captured in recent days, AFP reports.

Houthi official Abdelkader al-Murtada told AFP the detainees were prisoners of war who had spent up to eight years in jail before the group launched a rapid offensive toward areas bordering the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. “We have welcomed 210 of our prisoners, freed from Saudi enemy prisons on the west coast,” al-Murtada said at a conference in Sanaa.

Mohammed Fawzi, who spent three months in detention, shared his experience with AFP, calling it “a moment of indescribable joy.”

In May, the UN announced an agreement between the internationally recognised government and the Houthis to exchange more than 1,600 prisoners, but it was never carried out. A successful swap took place in April 2023, involving 900 detainees — the largest since one involving 1,000 detainees in October 2020.

The Houthis had already controlled large parts of northern Yemen, including most populated areas and the major cities of Sanaa and al-Hudaydah, before making strategic advances last week.

Yemen warns Houthi escalation threatens region in Libya call

Yemen’s internationally recognised government says it has briefed Libya on the latest Houthi escalation along the country’s western coast and near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba discussed the situation during a phone call with Taher al-Baour, the acting foreign minister in Libya’s Government of National Unity, according to Yemen’s Foreign Ministry.

Al-Zouba said the Houthi escalation posed a threat to Yemen’s “security, stability and capabilities”, with repercussions for regional security, navigation, trade routes and energy supplies.

She also affirmed the government’s right and “constitutional and legitimate responsibility” to protect its people and interests, preserve Yemen’s sovereignty and secure its territory, coastline and territorial waters.

Al-Baour expressed Libya’s support for Yemen’s “security, stability, unity, sovereignty and the safety of its territories”, the ministry said.

Two people injured by falling projectile in Saudi Arabia’s al-Tawwal Governorate

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence has reported that a “projectile” fell in al-Tawwal Governorate in the Jazan region.

Two people were injured and material damage was done to a mosque, several buildings and vehicles, the Saudi Civil Defense said.

Yemen and Saudi Arabia prepare to respond to Houthi takeover in Bab al-Mandeb

From Yousef Mawry, Sana'a

Both sides — Saudi Arabia and the internationally recognized Yemeni government — have said they will use aircraft to target Ansar Allah [the Houthis] in Mocha and the Bab al-Mandab strait. This is the strategy now: to strike the Houthis with airstrikes, targeting them and any military buildup. They’ve confronted the Houthis in an offensive military encounter after most government forces in that part of the country withdrew and abandoned their positions, giving the Houthis greater capacity to advance militarily and seize more land — which is what they have done and continue to do.

With Bab al-Mandab now under Houthi control, the group has gained leverage to make political demands of the government and Saudi officials, who are already meeting to discuss the looming threat — one that endangers their own interests as well as those of the international community. The Houthis have declared that the only ships to be blocked from Bab al-Mandab are Saudi vessels; any other country’s ships are free to pass, according to a statement issued by the group earlier.

Houthis blockade on Saudi vessels will affect the kingdom’s oil industry

From Yousef Mawry, Sana'a

The Houthis already held a degree of control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait before taking Mocha; they possessed supersonic and ballistic missiles capable of precisely striking moving ships in the Red Sea. They managed to hit vessels from 300 to 500km (186-311 miles) away – but now, with the shoreline and the two islands in the middle of the strait also in their hands, they can target ships at close range, as well.

They forced the ports of Haifa and Eilat in southern Israel into bankruptcy through the naval blockade they imposed on Israel during the war on Gaza, and they are positioned to do the same to Saudi Arabia – which, as we now understand, can no longer access the port. This will affect the kingdom’s oil industry, which is precisely what the Houthis are targeting: Aramco’s oil assets, facilities, and pipelines, in order to prevent the export of oil to East Asia.

Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of launching 129 strikes in 48 hours

Houthi spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree has said that Saudi warplanes have launched 129 air strikes over the past 48 hours, “targeting the governorates of Taiz, Marib, Hodeidah, Al-Jawf, Saada, Amran, and Hajjah”.

He added that F-15 and Typhoon aircraft were used to conduct the strikes, saying they took off from bases in Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait and Taif.

“These attacks on our people will not go unanswered, God willing,” he said.

Houthis claim missile, drone attack on Saudi military base in Sharurah

Yemen’s Houthis say they have carried out an attack on a Saudi military base in Sharurah, targeting weapons depots and command-and-control rooms.

In a statement on Telegram, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the operation was carried out using “a large number of ballistic missiles and drones”, claiming the strikes were “accurate and direct”.

Saree said the attack was in response to what the group described as continued Saudi aggression against Yemen.

He also threatened further attacks deeper inside Saudi territory if the fighting continues, saying future operations would be “more severe and larger”.

Houthi gains expose divisions among Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces

Mohamed al-Basha, founder and lead analyst of the Basha Report, says the Houthis’ latest gains on Yemen’s west coast reflect both their battlefield experience and deep divisions among forces opposed to them.

Al-Basha said that the operation began on August 9 and lasted about 30 days, with the main ground offensive starting around September 1.

He said Houthi fighters attacked several fronts in small teams, using mountain routes, ambushes and drones to overwhelm government positions.

“They’re a formidable force,” he said, arguing that anti-Houthi factions have repeatedly underestimated their military capabilities.

But al-Basha said the biggest problem facing Yemen’s internationally recognised government is internal division.

“You’re not going to be able to defeat the Houthis with a split command and control, with eight armies sort of competing over influence,” he said.

He added that foreign military assistance could help only to a point.

“This is a Yemeni conflict, the buck stops with them,” al-Basha said. “This is not Riyadh’s conflict, and this is not the US’s war.”

Yemen conflict likely to become prolonged with no quick collapse on either side

Mohamed Al-Basha, founder and lead analyst of the Basha Report, says Saudi Arabia is facing growing pressure to launch a larger military operation against the Houthis, but any campaign would still depend heavily on forces fighting on the ground.

Al-Basha said that while the Saudi-led coalition has not officially acknowledged carrying out air strikes, “it’s safe to say that the Saudis are providing air support”.

But he said air power alone would not be enough.

“Aircraft and firepower could suppress, could slow down the advance of the Houthis, but it’s the forces on the ground that will make a difference,” he said. “It’s not firepower, it’s not airpower.”

Al-Basha said he did not expect the United States to join the fighting directly.

“We are not at war with the Houthis. The Houthis are not at war with us,” he said, referring to the US position, adding that Washington could still support any future Saudi operation with “ISR, intelligence, refueling, logistics and military advice”.

On Houthi ambitions, he said: “The Houthis will do whatever they can do to take over the whole of the country.”

Al-Basha said he did not expect either side to collapse quickly, predicting instead “a protracted conflict” more similar to Sudan, with both sides eventually forced to negotiate.