Renewed fighting in Yemen is threatening a crucial Red Sea oil route that has become increasingly important to Saudi Arabia amid severe disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Houthi forces have pushed towards government-held territory near Mocha and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, while Saudi-backed Yemeni forces have launched a multi-front counteroffensive, raising fears that the most serious fighting in the country since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 could develop into a wider war.
The strategic significance of the fighting has been magnified by the wider regional conflict.
The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz followed the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, which Tehran has responded to by severely restricting shipping through the waterway. The strikes, widely condemned as a violation of international law, have forced Saudi Arabia to rely more heavily on alternative export routes bypassing the Gulf, including moving crude westwards towards the Red Sea.
Central to Saudi Arabia's efforts to bypass Hormuz is the East-West Pipeline, which carries crude from the kingdom's eastern oilfields across the country to the Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu.
The Houthis have already sought to disrupt that route. In July, the group said it targeted crude oil supply and transport infrastructure linking eastern Saudi Arabia to Yanbu, as Riyadh increasingly relied on the pipeline to circumvent disruption in the Gulf.
Between March and mid-July, Saudi seaborne crude exports through Bab al-Mandab were eight times higher than during the same period in 2025.
The Houthis, meanwhile, declared a blockade against Saudi shipping in the Red Sea in July and have sought to expand their control towards the strategically vital strait.
Bab al-Mandab, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, carried around 4.1 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products per day in 2024, equivalent to around five percent of the global total.
The result is an increasingly dangerous convergence between Yemen's renewed civil war and the wider regional conflict.
While Hormuz remains severely disrupted, fighting is intensifying around the other major maritime entrance to the Arabian Peninsula.
Those fears grew further on Tuesday when the Houthis launched one of their largest attacks on Saudi Arabia in years, striking four southern cities with missiles and drones. The attacks targeted energy infrastructure in Abha, Najran and Jizan, as well as King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, according to Saudi and Houthi officials.
Fires broke out at several oil facilities, and 73 people were wounded, including women and children. The Jizan refinery, situated on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, can process around 400,000 barrels of crude per day and forms part of the kingdom's western energy infrastructure.
Oil prices rose above $100 a barrel on Wednesday amid the renewed escalation and further US-Iran fighting around the Gulf.
Yemen's war returns
The battle over the Red Sea is unfolding amid the most serious escalation inside Yemen in four years.
More than 500 people have reportedly been killed in the latest fighting between Houthi and government-aligned forces, overwhelmingly combatants but including at least 29 civilians.
Thousands more have fled their homes, particularly around Taiz and Hodeidah on Yemen's western front.
The Houthis launched their latest offensive last week, seeking to advance towards Mocha and territory bordering Bab al-Mandab.
Saudi-backed government forces subsequently launched counteroffensives across several provinces, with Yemen's internationally recognised government saying it ultimately intends to retake all Houthi-controlled territory, including Sanaa.
The fighting continued into Wednesday, when Houthi-run Al Masirah television said Saudi-backed forces had launched 32 airstrikes across Marib, Al-Jawf, Taiz and Hodeidah overnight.
Saudi Arabia has not confirmed carrying out the strikes.
Houthi authorities have separately said at least 21 people were killed in strikes in Al-Jawf over the past two days.
The Houthis said Tuesday's attacks on Saudi Arabia were retaliation for Saudi attacks inside Yemen, while Riyadh described the strikes as a dangerous escalation and vowed to take measures to deter further attacks.
Saudi Arabia led the military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 after the Houthis seized Sanaa, launching a years-long bombing campaign and blockade that devastated Yemen's infrastructure and contributed to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
The 2022 truce largely ended direct Saudi-Houthi hostilities and froze the country's front lines, but the latest escalation threatens to pull Riyadh back into a conflict it had spent years attempting to extricate itself from.
The regional war has also changed the strategic stakes.
The Houthis have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to attack Red Sea shipping and Saudi energy infrastructure, while their latest ground offensive could give them greater strategic depth around Bab al-Mandab.
Recent reports have also pointed to increasing coordination between the Houthis and other Iran-aligned armed groups, including Iraqi factions, although the extent of Tehran's direct control over Houthi operations remains disputed.