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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/world/middleeast/yemen-houthis-saudi-war.html
Why the Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia Are Back at War
(New York Times) Vivian Nereim - The Iran-backed Houthi militia is now engaged in fierce clashes with Saudi-backed, Yemeni government forces on multiple fronts, and cross-border attacks in Yemen and Saudi Arabia have escalated. After a fragile truce in 2022, in July, the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing the airport in the capital, Sanaa, to prevent an Iranian plane from landing and they declared a naval blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea. This obstructed a route that the Saudi government relied on to export oil after Iran stymied shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. "The Saudis have a growing kind of belief that peace with the Houthis is impossible," said Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemen specialist at Chatham House in London. "They try to buy them, they try to bomb them, they try to fight them, they try to visit them, they try to invite them. None of this has worked."