Yemen’s Houthis fire missile salvo toward Bab al-Mandab, Red Sea, government says

Mohammed Sameai and Serdar Dincel

Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi group, fired a salvo of missiles toward the Bab al-Mandab strait and Yemen’s Red Sea coast on Monday, the country’s internationally recognized Aden-based government said Monday.

In a statement issued on social-media platform Facebook, the Yemeni army’s Taiz military command said it had detected the launch of two hypersonic ballistic missiles by the Houthi group toward the southwestern city of Mocha and the Red Sea coast.

The missiles were launched from the former headquarters of the 170th Air Defense Brigade on Mount Oman, located east of the Houthi-controlled city of Taiz, the army said.

According to the 2 December news agency, affiliated with Yemen’s government-aligned National Resistance Forces, Houthi forces fired as many as five ballistic missiles toward the Bab al-Mandab strait.

As of publication, no casualties or material damage had been announced as a result of the reported missile launches.

Houthi officials, meanwhile, have not publicly commented on either of the reports.

The reported escalation comes a day after Yemen’s National Resistance Forces claimed the Houthis had targeted the city of Mocha with at least seven aerial drones.

In 2014, the Iran-backed Houthis overran much of the country, including Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

This was followed by several years of war between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

Since the eruption of the Israel-Gaza conflict in 2023, ​​​​​​​the Houthis have become increasingly involved in regional hostilities, carrying out missile attacks on Israel and Israel-linked commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The latest uptick in fighting – coupled with the ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States – has revived fears of a return to full-scale conflict in impoverished Yemen.