Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the month-old Middle East war late Saturday, claiming two missile attacks on Israel and raising fears the conflict could expand toward the Red Sea.
Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on the rebels' al-Masirah satellite television station that they launched missiles toward "sensitive Israeli military sites" in the south.
During Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, the Houthis, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, had attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, forcing companies to take costly detours.
Until Saturday, they had sat out the latest conflict, even as the Red Sea grew more vital.
Their involvement now will add a new complexity to a conflict that has already impacted a wide swathe of the Middle East.
The economic fallout of the war remained critical, with the Strait of Hormuz still all but impassable and attacks on infrastructure still frequent in the region.
The Houthis' entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world's trade typically passes.
The rebels had attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
If the Houthis attack commercial shipping, as they have in the past, it would further push up oil prices and destabilize "all of maritime security," said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. "The impact would not be limited to the energy market."
The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed.
The Houthis' latest involvement would also complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia Saturday for maintenance.
Sending the ship to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025.
The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis on behalf of Yemen's exiled government in 2015 and they now have an uneasy cease-fire.
