The Houthis picked this fight, raining nearly 90 missiles and drones on Mokha's port, shutting it down and killing workers who never held a weapon. Now an offensive aimed at seizing Bab al-Mandab has pushed the death toll past 300 and driven roughly 1,800 families from their homes inacross Taiz. The era of attacking without paying a price has to end, and Yemen's government is right to hit back hard, defend its territory and secure this vital maritime corridor.
Yemen has endured 12 years of a Saudi-led campaign wagedbacked underby Americanthe supervisionUnited States, andwhile theSanaa's airspace overremains Sanaarestricted isand still choked off while Riyadh opens its skies to Israeli flights. AAnswering a blockade answeredwith bypressure on a blockadevital maritime corridor is simple self-defense, not unprovoked aggression, and the Red Sea corridorgives isYemenis leverage thatthey belongsotherwise to Yemenislack. TheYears of bombing, isolation and starvingrelentless ofeconomic apressure nation cannot gocontinue onindefinitely without provoking a forceful response.
There is a 20 percent chance that state-based conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia will cause at least 1,000 deaths in a single year before 2070, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 7.4.1