Yemeni Forces Seize Shipment of Iranian Drone Components in Red Sea

The Yemeni government’s National Resistance Forces announced Sunday that they intercepted a shipment of Iranian-made drone components bound for Houthi fighters, in what officials described as a major blow to the group’s supply networks.

Military spokesman Sadiq Dweid said in a statement on X that naval units carried out a “special operation” in the Red Sea, seizing the cargo. “

This success once again proves the vigilance of our forces in protecting our territorial waters, cutting off Iranian supply lines, and exposing the Houthis’ failed attempts to shield their smuggling networks despite desperate shelling,” he wrote.

The pro-government outlet 2 December reported that footage of the seized shipment would be released later Sunday, showing components and parts used in assembling unmanned aerial vehicles.

Neither the Houthis nor Iran issued an immediate response.

The interception comes amid renewed clashes between government forces and the Houthis since early July 2026 in several provinces, including Marib, al-Jawf, al-Dhalea, and Taiz. 

Yemen has been in a fragile state of truce since April 2022, following more than a decade of war that began when the Houthis seized Sana’a in September 2014.