There is another crucial consideration: the Houthis have so far avoided attacking American ships under an understanding reached with Washington.
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the United States remained in communication with the group and said the Houthis had agreed not to fight the US.
A senior Houthi official separately told AP that the group did not intend to target American vessels. Oman-mediated discussions have also reaffirmed the 2025 US-Houthi ceasefire arrangement.
Trump initially resisted launching airstrikes during meetings with advisers Wednesday but later ordered the Pentagon to prepare for military action following a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, the report said.
The Saudi crown prince urged Trump to intervene directly amid rapid territorial gains by the Houthis in Yemen, according to the newspaper.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday confirmed that Yemen’s Houthi rebels tried to attack its capital with a ballistic missile, the first targeting of Riyadh since the escalation in fighting with the Tehran-backed rebels that has opened a new front in the Iran war.
The statement by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis came long after the dawn attempt, which the coalition said was intercepted. Some residents in Riyadh heard an explosion. Later, some saw a plume of smoke near the airport. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
In der internationalen Berichterstattung wird das Ergebnis überwiegend als militärischer Erfolg AnsarAllahs dargestellt. Ein genauerer Blick auf die von CNN rekonstruierten Abläufe zeigt jedoch ein anderes Bild: weniger einen Sieg der einen Seite als einen aussergewöhnlichen Zusammenbruch der anderen – mit direkter saudischer und US-amerikanischer Beteiligung an diesem Zusammenbruch.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran is “not at war with Saudi Arabia”, as tensions rise over Houthi attacks on the kingdom, Al Jazeera reported.
Pezeshkian said the Houthis have “their own issues”, distancing Iran from the group’s actions.
A 2022 truce had reduced large-scale combat and allowed Saudi Arabia to distance itself from the conflict, but it left the capital under Houthi control and did nothing to establish centralized control over the country and its heavy weapons.
Now, as the Houthis advance rapidly toward government strongholds in the south, Yemen’s military is scrambling to regroup and make progress on its planned offensive in the north. The question now is whether Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and other powers will now intervene to help blunt the Houthis’ rapid advances.
Strikes by Yemen‘s Houthis on Sunday killed at least 11 people, a medical source in the Yemeni port city of Mokha has told AFP, after an earlier drone salvo targeted a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.
A years-long truce in Yemen‘s civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government appeared to collapse last month.
Houthis’ expansion of cross-border attacks on government forces means the threat of all-out war between the two sides is no longer far-fetched.
(August 2, 2026)
In Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, pictures of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi are a frequent sight. He glowers from billboards, with a dagger tucked in his belt. Crowds watch his speeches on big screens. His followers wave banners showing his face. Mr Houthi is everywhere—and nowhere. The rebel leader, who has controlled most of north-west Yemen for more than a decade, never appears in public. He holds meetings by video from caves and safe-houses.
The sources added that the casualty numbers were expected to rise.
Fighting in Yemen between the pro-Iranian Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces has intensified in recent weeks, after four years of relative calm.
Military spokesperson says maritime blockade has forced Saudi tankers to avoid Red Sea route
Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen „cannot be attributed to Iran“ and that the escalating tensions in the Bab al-Mandeb strait are “rooted in old disputes and issues“ between the two countries.
“We believe that there is no military solution to the issue of Yemen, Bab al-Mandeb, and other regional issues,” he said in an interview with the state-run Iran Daily newspaper.
„I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,“ Mr. Trump told Axios, adding that he believed Iran‘s leaders „want to negotiate,“ but aren‘t yet ready to make a deal.
„They haven‘t received enough pain yet,“ he told the outlet.
U.S. forces carried out a 12th consecutive night of strikes across Iran on Wednesday, and Mr. Trump warned in a social media post Thursday that the Islamic Republic and its Houthi allies would both face „major military punishment“ if the Yemeni rebels repeat their attacks from earlier this week on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
(10 hours ago)
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said its armed forces targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, claiming the vessels had violated a ban imposed by the group.
Saudi Arabia‘s state media later confirmed that one of its vessels was struck and the bow of the ship caught fire, with a source adding that all crew members onboard Encelia were safe.
President Trump on Tuesday suggested he could restart a bombing campaign in Yemen in response to the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, enforcing a blockade on the Red Sea.
Trump’s comments came after Ansar Allah announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, which came a week after the Saudis bombed Yemen’s Sanaa airport to prevent the landing of a plane carrying a Yemeni delegation from Iran to enforce its long-standing blockade on the country that was eased under a 2022 ceasefire deal but never fully lifted.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced a maritime embargo of their foe Saudi Arabia after the two sides traded fire last week for the first time in years.
The rebels “declare a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye,’ effective immediately upon the issuance of this statement”, military spokesman Yahya Saree said
(52 min ago)
In a televised statement, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi addressed the Yemeni people, claiming readiness for full-scale escalation „if the Saudi enemy chooses full-scale escalation“.
(July 5, 2026)
ADEN: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed 14 troops in an attack south of the port city of Hodeidah, a military official aligned with the country’s internationally-recognized government told AFP on Sunday.
(July 5, 2026)
This was Ansarallah’s “deadliest” attack on Saudi-backed forces “in years,” according to sources cited by other news agencies.
The attack involved sniper fire followed by drone and mortar strikes. Ansarallah reportedly overran Saudi-backed government positions before a counterattack saw Riyadh’s proxies retake the area.
The confrontation marks a significant escalation along a front that has remained largely frozen since the 2022 UN-brokered truce.
(May 1, 2025)
While the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, are aligned with Iran, the Yemeni group has its own domestic missile and drone program, meaning they’re not reliant on Tehran for military support. This has been acknowledged by US officials, including President Trump.
“They’re experts on missiles. I mean, they actually make missiles. Nobody thought that, but they make missiles. It’s highly sophisticated,” President Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early April.
In March, The Washington Post, citing US officials, reported that the Houthis have “established their own substantial, independent weapons production capability.”
The Houthis also operate independently and aren’t likely to take orders from Tehran.
The IDF wasn’t more specific on what fell. A military spokesman for the Houthis said the group had fired a ballistic missile, and warned airlines against flying into Ben Gurion.
Most of the missiles launched by Houthis from Yemen at Israel have been successfully intercepted, including one on Saturday and two on Friday.
In recent weeks, the United States has positioned THAAD anti-ballistic missile defence systems in Israel, bolstering the existing Iron Dome system.
It appears that still was not enough to stop the missile getting through.
The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify military operations in Gaza. The army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation, officials said.
Israel’s army confirmed this was the first time a missile struck the airport grounds since the war began, though fragments of missiles or interceptors have struck nearby.
The Government of Change and Construction said in a statement issued today, „With typical British impudence, the British Ministry of Defense announced the implementation of a joint military aggression with the American enemy against our country, south of Sana‘a, in response, the Government of Change and Construction affirms that the British enemy must reckon with its predicament and anticipate the consequences of its aggression against the Republic of Yemen.“
(April 13, 2025)
„To my best knowledge, there is a preparation of almost 80,000 Yemeni soldiers from the legitimate government in preparation in different locations to move toward taking over. That will be . . . supported by the drone surveillance and by the air coverage by the US side. There has been some serious discussion in that one and I can see that happening,“ Dr. Sager said. „I think we might be on the stage of counting down to the end of the [Houthis], and they pushed it to this.“
There appears to be preparation for renewed ground combat in the north, near Al Jawf and Sada, and in the south near Taiz, suggested Chatham House research fellow Farea al-Muslimi.
The US raids, the most significant military action since Trump’s return to power in January, came after Yemen’s Houthis threatened to resume raids on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
The US attacks, which began on Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday, on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, as well as on areas in Saada, Al Bayda and Radaa killed 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi posted on X.
He said US personnel were carrying out aerial attacks on Houthi bases, leaders and missile defenses “to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom.”
“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” Trump wrote.
Trump also delivered a warning for Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, saying it must “immediately” end support for the group. He warned that if Iran threatened the American people or their president, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
„We carried out a military operation targeting a vital target of the Israeli enemy in Tel Aviv, using a hypersonic ballistic missile,“ Yemeni spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement aired by al-Masirah TV.
„The operation achieved its goal successfully,“ he said, adding that his group also carried out an attack using four drones and targeted „vital targets“ in Tel Aviv.
The group did not reveal the target of the airstrike or the extent of the damage.
This attack follows an airstrike by US-UK fighter jets on the Yemeni group in the Al-Tuhayta district, south of the coastal city of Al-Hudaydah, near the Red Sea.
On Tuesday, Ansarallah announced that it had targeted American ships and destroyers in the Gulf of Djibouti and the Gulf of Aden.
Started streaming 78 minutes ago #israel #houthi #middleeast
LIVE: US, UK & Israel Conduct 14 Airstrikes on Sanaa and Hodeidah Airport in Yemen | Houthi Middle East | Free Press Journal | International News
Le forze armate di Stati Uniti e Regno Unito avrebbero attaccato le aree delle città di Sana‘a, Hodeidah e Dhamar, controllate dal movimento filo-iraniano Houthi in Yemen. Lo ha riferito l’emittente yemenita di proprietà degli Houthi «Al Masirah», con sede a Beirut, spiegando che gli attacchi aerei statunitensi e britannici hanno preso di mira l‘aeroporto di Hodeidah, una zona di Sana‘a e il sud della città di Dhamar.
The US and UK have launched strikes across Yemen, including in the capital city of Sanaa, Dhamar city and Hodeidah airport, according to Houthi-controlled, Al Masirah TV.
Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree speaks on the ballistic missile launched at Israel, September 15, 2024
(photo credit: SCREENSHOT/X)
(28.02.2024)
Die amerikanische Drohne sei nicht im Rahmen der US-Mission „Prosperity Guardian“, die gegen Angriffe der Houthi-Rebellen im Roten Meer patrouilliert, im Einsatz gewesen. Denn die Besatzung der „Hessen“ sei nach Sichtung der unbekannten Drohne mit Mitgliedern von „Prosperity Guardian“ in Kontakt gewesen. Doch auch diese wussten nicht Bescheid vom Einsatz des Flugobjekts. Diese sei vermutlich für eine andere US-Mission in der Region unterwegs gewesen.
Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the U.S. Central Command, is expected to meet Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Israel Defense Forces officials.
Israeli officials say they are preparing for a possible unprecedented direct attack from Iranian soil using ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles against Israeli targets.
In such a scenario, Israel will retaliate with a direct attack against Iran, the officials said.
The US has been tight-lipped in its public reaction to the Apr 1 strike, saying it has not determined whether Israel struck a diplomatic facility, which would breach international agreements on the inviolability of embassies and consulates.