Houthis say Saudi Arabia launched 26 strikes in Yemen over 24 hours
Yemen's Houthi movement (Ansar Allah), which already controlled most of Yemen's populated areas, launched an offensive this month to capture the country's entire Red Sea coastline.
Houthi forces report that Saudi Arabia has carried out numerous airstrikes across Yemen, including 26 strikes over a single 24-hour period, as fighting intensifies near the Red Sea coast.
Days of fighting have reportedly left hundreds dead and displaced many families, with Houthi units advancing on port towns and outlying islands along the coast.
By seizing the coastline and adjoining islands, the Houthis have gained effective control over the approaches to the Bab al-Mandab strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint.
The strait's importance has been further heightened by the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz route amid the wider regional conflict, pushing more shipping traffic toward the Red Sea corridor that the Houthis now overlook.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait: Geography and Strategic Significance
The Bab al-Mandab ("Gate of Tears") is a narrow strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and, through it, the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. It lies between Yemen on the Asian side and Djibouti and Eritrea on the African side, and at its narrowest point (between Djibouti and Yemen's Perim Island) is only about 16.5 km wide.
Houthi control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and adjoining islands gives a non-state armed actor practical leverage over a chokepoint through which a significant share of world trade and energy shipments transit, raising the risk of shipping disruption similar to the 2024 Red Sea attacks.
India's Maritime Security Response: Operation Sankalp
Operation Sankalp is an Indian Navy mission, launched in June 2019, to safeguard the security of Indian-flagged merchant vessels and protect India's maritime trade and energy interests in the Gulf and adjoining waters, including near the Strait of Hormuz and the wider western Indian Ocean/Red Sea approaches.
Key Details
- Launched by the Indian Navy on 19 June 2019 amid rising tensions and attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf.
- Core objectives: ensuring safe passage of Indian-flagged vessels, anti-piracy and anti-terrorism patrols, protecting sea lines of communication (SLOCs), and safeguarding continuity of India's energy imports.
- Roughly a third of India's total trade volume, and a large share of its crude oil imports, transits the Hormuz-Bab al-Mandab-Red Sea corridor, making both chokepoints strategically vital for India.
- The Indian Navy has also periodically deployed additional assets to the Gulf of Aden/Red Sea region to escort Indian shipping when regional threats to commercial vessels rise.
Escalating conflict around the Bab al-Mandab strait directly threatens the sea lanes Operation Sankalp is meant to secure, and could prompt an expanded Indian naval presence if commercial shipping disruption spreads from the Red Sea toward Indian-flagged vessels.
The Yemen Civil War and the Houthi Movement
The Houthi movement (formally Ansar Allah) is a Zayidi Shia armed and political movement that took control of Yemen's capital Sana'a in 2014-15, triggering a Saudi Arabia-led multinational coalition intervention in March 2015 to restore the internationally recognised government. The conflict has since evolved into one of the world's most protracted civil wars, with the Houthis widely assessed to receive backing from Iran, making it a key theatre of the broader Saudi-Iran regional rivalry.
Key Details
- Houthis seized Sana'a in September 2014 and ousted the government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi by early 2015.
- A Saudi-led coalition (including the UAE and other Gulf states) launched military intervention in March 2015 in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government.
- The conflict has produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions displaced and dependent on aid.
- India evacuated over 4,000 Indian nationals (and other foreign nationals) from Yemen in 2015 under Operation Raahat, conducted amid the escalating conflict.
The current offensive for the Red Sea coast is the latest phase of this decade-long war, with the Houthis' territorial gains reshaping the balance of control over one of the world's key maritime chokepoints and drawing in Saudi Arabia's continued air campaign.
- The Bab al-Mandab strait is roughly 16.5 km wide at its narrowest point, between Djibouti and Yemen's Perim Island.
- Around 10-12% of global maritime trade, and a substantial share of global oil shipments, transits the Bab al-Mandab-Red Sea-Suez corridor.
- Operation Sankalp, the Indian Navy's Gulf maritime security mission, was launched on 19 June 2019.
- The Houthi movement seized Yemen's capital Sana'a in 2014-15, prompting a Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervention beginning March 2015; India evacuated over 4,000 nationals from Yemen in 2015 under Operation Raahat.