Yemen's conflict escalated sharply over the past 12 hours, with the Iran-backed Houthi movement seizing additional Red Sea islands, Saudi airstrikes reportedly killing civilians in Taiz, and Brent crude climbing to a 16-week high on fears for global shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
A Houthi health ministry official said Saudi airstrikes in Taiz province killed three people, including two children, and wounded two others, though the Associated Press could not independently verify the claim or identify what was targeted, according to a report carried by News4Jax. The same report said Houthi forces have now seized the strategic Greater and Lesser Hanish islands in the Red Sea, extending their control of the corridor after recently capturing the port of Mokha and other islands nearby.
The advance follows what NBC News described as a "rapid push" that has given the Houthis effective control of Yemen's Red Sea coastline and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints. Houthi forces also captured Mayun Island to cement their grip on the strait, a development CNN called "a f***-up of epic proportions" that has triggered a blame game among Saudi and US officials over an intelligence failure.
Fighting has intensified since the war reignited in July, when the Houthis declared a maritime blockade against Riyadh, according to Al Jazeera. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi Arabia carried out 54 airstrikes in a single 24-hour period using F-15 and Typhoon jets, hitting Taiz, Lahj, Al-Jawf, Marib and Hodeida, per Yahoo News. Saudi Arabia has vowed to respond "firmly" after ballistic missiles and drones wounded 13 civilians in the kingdom's south, according to The National.
The human toll is mounting quickly. The UN's migration agency said more than 2,000 Yemenis crossed to Djibouti in a single 24-hour span, and over 82,000 people have been displaced since fighting resumed at the start of September — a figure some UN reporting puts as high as 86,000, according to Democracy Now. Images from Al-Firdaws camp near Aden show displaced families and children receiving medical treatment.
Human Rights Watch added a new layer of scrutiny on Monday, saying recent Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden "most likely amount to war crimes" in at least three cases, including strikes on Saudi-, Tanzanian- and Dominica-flagged ships since the July 20 blockade announcement. The group cited the disputed case of the Tihamah, which Houthi forces claimed was carrying Saudi military equipment but which Yemen's Transportation Ministry says was a civilian vessel hauling food; HRW said the Houthis never responded to a request for evidence, per its own statement.
The economic fallout is being felt in global energy markets. Brent crude rose to $107.05 a barrel and US crude to $102.92 in Asian trading Tuesday, extending Monday's jump of over 4% to a 16-week high, according to reporting cited by GV Wire and CBS News. Strikes last week forced a shutdown of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, the kingdom's main alternative route for exporting oil without transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to Foreign Policy, compounding pressure from the broader US-Iran conflict.
Diplomatically, the escalation has also disrupted efforts at de-escalation elsewhere in the region: Gulf states called off a planned meeting with Iran on Monday after the latest wave of Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. Analysts warn Yemen risks sliding back into full-scale war, with the fight for control of Bab el-Mandeb now inseparable from the wider regional confrontation between the US, Iran and Gulf states.