After years of fragile calm following a 2022 truce that paused one of the world’s deadliest modern conflicts, Yemen has once again descended toward large-scale open war. On Sunday, the Saudi-backed internationally recognized Yemeni government launched a sweeping military offensive aimed at recapturing vast swathes of territory controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah.
In an official statement announcing the campaign, Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi confirmed that national armed forces would push to reclaim all Houthi-held lands, which are home to roughly 70% of Yemen’s total population, including the capital city of Sanaa. Al-Alimi emphasized that the offensive would not end “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia.”
Houthi administrative sources quickly countered the government’s move, reporting that Saudi-led coalition forces had carried out at least 50 air and missile strikes across Houthi-held territory within a 12-hour window of the offensive announcement. Coinciding with al-Alimi’s declaration, the Houthi movement responded with coordinated strikes of its own, launching a wave of ballistic missiles and drones targeting key facilities operated by Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned national oil company. One strike hit an Aramco site near the capital Riyadh, triggering a large blaze that was captured in photos and widely shared on social media.
The current escalation follows a major strategic breakthrough for the Houthis just one month prior, when the group seized key high-value territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The gain gave the Houthis unprecedented control over a critical stretch of one of the world’s busiest commercial shipping routes, amplifying the economic pressure that Iran has leveraged through its restrictions on vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a response to recent joint US-Israeli military actions in the region.
Diplomatic and military context for the offensive reveals shifting US involvement. Earlier this year, former President Donald Trump rejected a direct request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for US military aircraft to carry out independent airstrikes against Houthi targets. However, anonymous US officials confirmed to Axios on Friday that Washington continues to provide Riyadh with extensive support that stops short of direct combat participation, most notably real-time intelligence and precision targeting data to aid coalition strikes.
Military analysts note that the current mobilization marks one of the largest military buildups since the 2022 truce halted eight years of brutal full-scale civil war. Alongside the Saudi-led air campaign, the Yemeni government is reportedly prepared to deploy up to 100,000 ground troops to advance on Houthi positions.
The human cost of the original 2014–2022 civil war already stands as one of the worst global humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century. Backed by extensive US military support for the Saudi air campaign, the conflict killed an estimated 377,000 people through direct and indirect causes by the end of 2021, according to data from the United Nations Development Programme. Of that total, 154,000 died from direct combat, while another 223,000 perished from indirect consequences including widespread hunger, preventable disease, and the total collapse of national healthcare systems and basic public infrastructure. A staggering 259,000 of those deaths were children under the age of five.
Even before Sunday’s formal escalation of hostilities, renewed skirmishes over the past month had already sparked a worsening humanitarian emergency across Yemen. The International Organization for Migration reports that more than 149,000 Yemenis have already been displaced from their homes since fighting reignited. The United Nations World Food Programme adds that ongoing clashes have cut off critical food supply routes, leaving more than 18.3 million Yemenis — more than half the country’s population — at risk of severe acute food insecurity.