Houthi Red Sea Offensive

The story so far

As of October 11, 2026

The Red Sea fight has narrowed to a contest over Mocha and the gate to the sea lane at Bab al Mandeb. After a September push in which the Houthis said they seized Mocha and advanced along the Mocha to Dhubab coast while targeting Perim Island in mid‑strait, Saudi‑backed forces opened a counteroffensive with heavy Saudi air cover. They say they now hold effective control of the strait and have retaken Dhubab and nearby towns, and they claim Mocha as well. The Houthis deny losing the port, and the intensity of strikes around it shows the issue is not settled.

This battlefield sits inside a wider squeeze on energy and shipping. With the Strait of Hormuz largely shut by the war with Iran, Saudi Arabia pushed more oil west, only to see Houthi drones briefly shut its East–West pipeline and a declared Houthi blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea. The first lethal strike on a commercial vessel off Yemen killed six. The reach has now extended to the Saudi capital: missiles hit Riyadh’s main airport, killing three Saudi citizens, forcing the suspension of 124 flights, and prompting a shutdown and reopening cycle that underlined how this war now disrupts aviation as well as seaborne trade.

Inside Yemen the government has raised its tempo, including 20 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Taiz, while the Houthis have kept pressure on the coast. Mocha has been hit by volleys of missiles and drones over multiple rounds, with at least seven to eight people killed and more than 30 wounded, more than 25 attacks in a week, and port operations halted, leaving about 1,500 workers idle. Away from the shoreline, Houthi fighters have cut the Taiz to Aden lifeline and even seized the parliament speaker’s home, a sign that control of the coast is already shaping supply routes and leverage inland.

What this has become is a struggle over who sets the rules at Bab al Mandeb. Planned US airstrikes were canceled, removing the nearest prospect of outside punishment for Houthi strikes, while Riyadh has assembled a 14‑nation naval effort and put roughly 100 fighter jets over the Yemeni coast to back its ground push. Escorts at sea can keep ships moving, but only control of the Mocha to Dhubab to Perim corridor can mute the threat from coastal missiles, drones, and mines. The deaths at Riyadh’s airport show that even as the coalition claims the strait, the Houthis still hold tools to raise costs far from the front, and that is what is at stake now.