Houthis enter Middle East conflict

(SeaPRwire) –   The Yemeni group has stated it is joining the fight against the U.S. and Israel to support Iran and other “resistance” factions

Yemen’s Houthi armed forces declared their official entry into the Middle East conflict, launching multiple missiles at Israel.

The group—which controls Yemen’s capital Sanaa and much of the country’s north—had stayed out of the fighting since the U.S. and Israel first attacked Tehran on February 28.

But on Saturday, Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree released a statement voicing backing for Tehran and other “resistance” factions in the region.

The group feels compelled to begin military operations against the U.S., Israel and their allies due to ongoing escalation, infrastructure attacks, and “atrocities” in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and the Gaza Strip, he said.

”Our fingers are on the trigger” if any nation joins the strikes by Washington and West Jerusalem or if the Red Sea is used to target Iran, Saree warned.

Several hours later, the Houthis said they had fired “a salvo of ballistic missiles at sensitive Israeli military sites,” timing the attack with operations by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The group stated it will continue its strikes “until the aggression against all resistance fronts ceases.”

Israel reported shooting down two missiles from Yemen on Saturday.

When asked about the Houthi attack, Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin said West Jerusalem is “preparing for a multifront war.”

Over the past two and a half years, the Houthis have launched more than 130 ballistic missiles and dozens of drones at Israel, killing one person and wounding several others, according to the Times of Israel.

The Yemeni fighters said they were acting to support Palestinians in Gaza after West Jerusalem launched its military operation targeting the enclave in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 incursion into Israel.

The group also disrupted Red Sea shipping, targeting around 100 Israeli-linked vessels in the Gulf of Aden and sinking two of them.

In 2025, the U.S. launched a bombing campaign against Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. While it ended in May without defeating the group as U.S. President Donald Trump had promised, the White House announced a deal with the militants to halt their vessel attacks.

A potential escalation of Houthi shipping strikes could push oil prices higher and destabilize “all of maritime security,” warned Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The impact would not be limited to the energy market,” he said.

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Saudi Arabia has redirected its oil trade to the Red Sea, sending millions of barrels of crude daily through the 32-km-wide (20-mile-wide) Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

When the Houthis targeted vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb in 2024 and 2025, shipping companies were forced to change routes—sending ships around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope—which caused delays and significantly higher costs.