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Conflict in Yemen and the Red Sea

Car Bomb Kills Three in Southern Yemen

  • A car bomb killed three people north of Aden in an apparent assassination attempt targeting a senior commander in the Saudi-backed Giants Brigades (AP)

French Shipping Group Reroutes Ships Away From Suez

  • French shipping group CMA CGM said it is scaling back sailings through the Suez Canal and rerouting vessels via the Cape of Good Hope, citing an uncertain security environment following disruptions linked to the Houthis in the Red Sea (Reuters)

UN Warns Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis Will Deepen in 2026

  • The United Nations warned that Yemen’s humanitarian crisis will sharply worsen in 2026 as funding cuts leave twenty-one million people in need of aid (Reuters)

United States Imposes New Sanctions Targeting Houthis

  • The United States imposed new sanctions on the Houthi movement, targeting twenty-one individuals, entities, and one vessel linked to oil, weapons, and dual-use smuggling networks that Washington says fund attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea (Reuters)

Maersk Resumes Limited Red Sea Transit

  • Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said another of its vessels successfully transited the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait (Reuters)

Pro-STC Protests Erupt in Southern Yemen

  • Thousands of protesters rallied in Aden in support of the Southern Transitional Council, which denied plans to disband, after recent clashes and territorial reversals heightened tensions between its backer, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia (Reuters)

Yemen Evacuates Stranded Tourists From Socotra Amid Gulf Rift

  • Yemen evacuated 609 tourists from Socotra Island to Jeddah after air traffic was disrupted by the withdrawal of United Arab Emirates troops (Reuters)

Saudi-Emirati Rift Over Yemen

  • A Saudi government spokesperson accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of smuggling a Yemeni separatist leader out of the country, even going so far as to name a major Emirati general as responsible; the UAE and the separatist group did not immediately comment on the claims (FT)
  • The group’s offensive in southern Yemen has escalated tensions between the two Gulf powers, which back rival forces in the area (WaPo)

Saudi-Backed Forces Retake Port City of Mukalla

  • The Emirati-backed separatists known as the Southern Transitional Council (STC) had seized the city last month (AP)
  • The Saudi-backed National Shield Forces are aligned with the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels (France24)

STC Announces Intention to Seize Control of Sanaa

  • The leader of the Southern Transitional Council said the separatist group’s next objective should be to seize control of the country’s capital following their recent takeover of eastern regions and oilfields (NYT)
  • Separately, the U.S. State Department condemned the Houthi rebels’ ongoing detention of current and former staff of the U.S. Mission to Yemen, without providing details on how many Americans were detained, or since when (State)

UN Condemns Houthi Trial of Detained Staff

  • UN Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the Houthis for referring some of the fifty-nine Yemeni UN personnel they have held to a special criminal court, saying the detentions violate international law by ignoring staff immunity; the UN urged the group to reverse the decision and immediately release all detained employees (UN)

STC Announces Territorial Gains

  • Yemeni separatist group the Southern Transitional Council (STC) announced in a statement on Saturday that it had made territorial “victories and gains” in the eastern provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra (Reuters)
  • The development marks a dramatic shift that cements STC control in southern Yemen and could pave the way for the south to declare independence (Guardian)
  • The STC is backed by the United Arab Emirates, and has fought both the Houthi rebels and Yemen’s internationally-backed government in the country’s civil war (AP)

Piracy Attack in Bab el-Mandeb

  • Authorities reported that a commercial ship transiting the strait was fired upon by boats, prompting onboard security personnel to return fire; no crew members were harmed, but the attack points to continued piracy in the area even as Houthi attacks have paused under a Gaza ceasefire (AP)

STC Offensive in Eastern Yemen

  • Forces from the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), captured key cities in Hadramout province, including Seiyun, and secured oil fields in the strategic Wadi Hadramout valley, in an offensive that the group said aimed to “liberate” southern Yemen and restore economic stability (Al Jazeera)
  • The advance has heightened tensions between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which backs rival forces in the region and dispatched officials to Hadramout, urging outside troops to withdraw (NYT).

Houthis Release Ship Crew

  • The crew members, who were onboard a Greek-operated vessel that the Houthis sunk in July, are being transferred out of Yemen through Oman, following their months-long detention by the group (Reuters)

Break in Iran-Houthi Relations

  • Anonymous Iranian officials told The Telegraph that Tehran’s influence over the Houthis has eroded sharply, describing the group as increasingly acting on its own; Tehran’s attempts to rein in the group, including by dispatching a senior commander to Sanaa, have so far fallen short (Telegraph)
  • Officials also acknowledged similar difficulties controlling some Iraqi militias, reflecting broader strains within Iran’s regional proxy system (Jerusalem Post)

Gunmen Ambush Taiz Governor’s Convoy

  • Armed attackers shot at Governor Nabil Shamsan’s motorcade on a main route outside Taiz, leaving five security personnel dead and two injured before two of the assailants were themselves killed; no group has claimed responsibility, though clashes between the Houthis and pro-government factions continue to occur (AP)

Houthis Sentence Alleged Spies

  • A Houthi-affiliated court in Sanaa issued public death sentences against seventeen people accused of spying for multiple foreign intelligence services, while two others received prison terms, marking another escalation in the rebels’ crackdown on local staff linked to foreign missions (AP)

Houthi Strategy Shift

  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels suggested in a letter posted online that they will pause their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea following the truce in Gaza, though they stopped short of declaring a formal end to the campaign (FT)
  • The bombing campaign, which they declared in solidarity with Gaza, upended global shipping routes and prompted retaliatory strikes from both the Biden and Trump administrations (CFR)

Houthi Trials for Detained UN Staff

  • Houthi authorities say dozens of locally hired UN employees arrested after an Israeli strike that killed senior Houthi officials in August will face prosecution, despite UN denials of any involvement; the UN has consistently suggested that the detentions were arbitrary (Reuters)

Amnesty Flags U.S. Strike on Yemen Prison As Potential War Crime

  • Amnesty International called for an investigation into a U.S. airstrike on a Houthi-run detention facility in Saada that killed over sixty African migrants, saying there was no apparent military goal and the attack may have been indiscriminate; the strike occurred amid the Trump Administration’s Operation Rough Rider campaign (AP)

More Houthi Detentions of UN Workers

  • Two female World Food Program employees were arrested in Sanaa amid a widening crackdown on UN officials; one of the detainees was reported in critical condition (AP)

Houthis Detain Two UN Staff Members

  • The arrests are part of a pattern of detentions, now totaling fifty UN staff members; the UN says the moves are forcing a reassessment of aid operations in Houthi-controlled areas, as it continues to demand the immediate release of all detained personnel (AP)

Houthis Free UN Staff

  • The Houthis freed five Yemeni UN staff members and authorized fifteen international employees to resume movement on UN premises after detaining them on Saturday, as regional mediators increasingly pressured Houthi leadership (AP)
  • Meanwhile, militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula attacked the headquarters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the Al-Mahfad district of Abyan province using two car bombs, killing eight soldiers and injuring fifteen others; the STC said troops repelled the assault after heavy clashes, killing eight terrorists (AFP)

Airstrip Construction on Yemeni Island

  • Satellite imagery shows a new 2,000-meter airstrip being built on Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, likely by Emirati-linked firms; the effort is part of a broader objective amongst anti-Houthi forces to monitor smuggling and shipping routes near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (AP)
  • Meanwhile, a blaze aboard the Cameroonian-flagged gas tanker Falcon in the Gulf of Aden killed two crew members and left the vessel adrift; maritime authorities said the explosion was accidental, not linked to Houthi attacks, as twenty-four other crew were rescued and the ship awaits salvage (AP)