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Behind the Saudi-Houthi Escalation
(The Times-UK) Samer Al-Atrush - A Houthi missile struck Riyadh's international airport on Saturday, killing 13 and wounding hundreds. It was the Saudis who in June escalated their 12-year war with the Houthis, which had theoretically been paused by a ceasefire in 2022. The escalation originally began when the Saudis struck a Houthi-held airport in June to stop an Iranian-backed plane from landing, in what was meant to be a show of dominance. The Saudis had recently elbowed out the UAE, its erstwhile military ally in Yemen, from the country. But with the Emiratis gone, along with their Apache helicopters and command center in Mocha, on Yemen's Red Sea coast, the Houthis seized the opportunity to carry out a lightning advance in September that left them in control not only of Mocha but the neighboring Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which controls access to the Red Sea. Iran had been pressuring the Houthis to close Bab al-Mandeb and the Red Sea to oil shipments as its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz weakened. It got its wish. Saudi-backed government forces launched an offensive to retake the territories recently captured by the Houthis. This prompted the Houthis' Riyadh airport strikes.