A drone view shows fuel vessels docked at the Baniyas oil terminal in Baniyas, Syria, October 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Yemeni coast.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Representational image
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

A man described as Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national employed as an OpenAI engineer, looks behind a television where a recording device had been placed at a conference room in OpenAI offices, in a still image from surveillance video included in a charging document after U.S. federal agents the man and charged him with installing a hidden audio recording device, in San Francisco, California, U.S., on October 5, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Handout from Department of Justice via Reuters

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

People inspect the wreckage of a building after it was damaged in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, in Sanaa. File
| Photo Credit: AP

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

On July 13, an Iranian civilian aircraft carrying a high-level Houthi delegation was heading towards Sana’a, Yemen’s capital. Under an unwritten understanding between the Houthis (Ansar Allah), who control northern and northwestern Yemen, including Sana’a, and the country’s Saudi-backed government, planes seeking to land in Houthi-held territory were required to obtain prior approval. The Houthi delegation had left Yemen on July 3 on another Iranian aircraft to attend the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader who was assassinated by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 when they launched their war against Tehran.

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government had protested the Iranian plane transporting Houthi leaders, arguing it was a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty. It also opposed the delegation taking an Iranian plane back home, and instead offered to facilitate their return on a non-Iranian airline. The government’s main concern was that the flight could also be used to transport personnel of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and military equipment to Yemen. The Houthis, nevertheless, chose to return on a Mahan Air flight. To prevent the aircraft from landing, Saudi-backed forces bombed the runway of Sana’a airport, forcing the plane to land in Hodeidah. This was the trigger.

The Houthis immediately announced that the ceasefire was over. They started attacking Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure with drones and missiles, and announced a blockade on Saudi ships in the Red Sea, while also launching a ground offensive against the forces of the Saudi-backed government in Yemen. By mid-September, the Houthis captured Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast and an island in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, tightening their control of the chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Saudi Arabia retaliated by carrying out large-scale air strikes on Houthi positions. But such strikes did not have any meaningful impact on the Houthi behaviour. The Houthis stepped up their attacks on Saudi oil facilities and airports, including the international airport in Riyadh, forcing the authorities to suspend operations on Saturday.   

The war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has complicated the larger conflict between Iran and the U.S. The Houthis are Iran’s close regional allies. While the U.S. is trying to force Iran to accept its terms for a deal through economic coercion, the Houthis are adding more pressure on global energy prices through their attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest energy producer. This new dynamic seems to have strengthened Iran’s position in the conflict. While Saudi Arabia is getting military assistance from the U.S., President Donald Trump is wary of joining the war. Last year, U.S. forces bombed the Houthis for seven weeks, but then ended the operation without any major progress as the Houthis kept attacking the U.S. navy. In other words, Saudi Arabia faces few good options. Its ability to export oil has been curtailed; it’s not able to prevent the Houthis from targeting the kingdom; defeating the Houthis militarily is not an option and a direct American involvement is unlikely. 

To understand the rise of the Houthis, read this profile we published a few weeks ago: The Houthis vs Saudi Arabia | The new lords of the Red Sea

Further, in this episode of Global Faultlines podcast, we discuss Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, and the rise of the Houthis in detail. The Houthis, who emerged as a Zaydi revivalist movement, gained momentum during the Arab Spring protests. They captured Sana’a, Yemen’s capital in 2014. In 2015, a few months after Salman ascended the throne in Saudi Arabia, his youngest son and the new Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman declared war against the Houthis promising to sack them from Sana’a. That war is not yet over. For Prince Mohammed, now the Crown Prince of the kingdom, the war with the Houthis has become the greatest security test of his de facto reign.

The Trump-Putin deal 

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal with Russia to buy Russian diesel. He said Moscow would release 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately “to the American and global marketplace”, followed by 500,000 tonnes in November and a further one million after that. As part of the agreement, the U.S. Treasury has suspended sanctions on Russian diesel exports until April 7. This marked a sharp U-turn in the U.S. policy, which had imposed biting sanctions on Russia to weaken its economy. President Vladimir Putin, who has imposed a ban on diesel exports, said Russia was ready to supply diesel to the U.S. and the global economy. Mr. Trump is under pressure at home amid high fuel prices, mainly because of the supply disruptions brought by his war on Iran. His plan is to bring Russian diesel into the market, hoping that it would reduce the prices and ease some pressure on him as the U.S. is going to the midterm polls early next year. 

But Mr. Trump’s move comes with several ironies. Last year, he had imposed 25% additional tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Just last month, the U.S. Congress passed a Bill authorising the President to impose up to 100% tariffs on countries buying fuel from Russia, including India and China. Mr. Trump has signed that Bill into law. Now the same Mr. Trump has struck a deal with Mr. Putin to buy Russian diesel.

Beyond the inherent contradiction of the latest U.S. policy, the Trump U-turn also points to the ineffectiveness of the western sanctions regime. The U.S. and Europe were on the same page until recently on strangulating the Russian economy through sanctions. Now, Mr. Trump is parting ways, weakening the European efforts to maintain economic pressure on Moscow. Two, the U.S.-Russia deal would make it extremely difficult for Ukraine, which is dependent on the U.S. for weapons supply, to continue to attack Russian oil refineries. Mr. Trump has already started escalating his pressure tactics on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asking Kyiv to stop attacks on Russia’s energy sites. Ukraine and its partners in Europe are scrambling ways to deal with the latest Trump move at a time when Mr. Putin is stepping up his strikes on Ukraine and testing the resolve of NATO.  

Published – October 12, 2026 05:19 pm IST

The Houthis claimed a flurry of attacks on Saudi targets on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) including firing a ballistic missile at Riyadh airport, as the group battles for territory in Yemen against government forces supported by the kingdom.

The Houthis, who control most of northwest Yemen, captured swathes of coastal land from Yemen’s pro-government forces last month after the country’s civil war reignited in July.

The fighting has displaced more than 2,00,000 people within the country, the United Nations said on Wednesday (October 7, 2026).

Yemen’s internationally recognised government this week declared a counter-offensive and claims to have uprooted Houthi fighters from strategic areas on the Red Sea and the port city of Mocha.

But the Iran-backed Houthis say they are holding their territory, and military sources from both sides contacted by AFP have not reported any major changes on the ground.

Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify with the situation moving fast and access for journalists difficult.

“Our armed forces have just targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile. The strike was accurate, by God’s grace, and led to a disruption of air traffic,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) in a post on X.

The Saudi-led military coalition that backs Yemen’s government said the missile was intercepted.

In a separate post the Houthis also said they targeted a military supply convoy near the airport in the Yemeni city of Aden, the interim capital for the government.

The Yemeni government’s Saba news agency reported missiles and drones targeting that airport.

The agency cited transport authorities as saying one of the missiles landed near the runway minutes before the scheduled arrival of a flight from Cairo, which was forced to divert to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Houthi drones and missiles also targeted Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport and King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, spokesman Saree said, claiming they had “hit their targets accurately”.

It is the second time this week that the Houthis claimed to have attacked the main airport in the Saudi capital.

It is facing frequent temporary closures of its airspace, according to tracking website Flightradar24, but Saudi authorities have not publicly acknowledged the closures or confirmed any strikes targeting the airport.

‘Terrified’

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that has been fighting the Houthis since 2015, and is now trying to roll back the group’s latest advance.

On Monday (October 5, 2026), the coalition said it was providing air support for the counter-offensive launched by the Yemeni government forces.

After a four-year ceasefire, Yemen’s civil war re-erupted in July. Last month the Houthis seized the entire western coastline along the Red Sea in the country’s deadliest fighting in years.

On Wednesday (October 7, 2026), new clashes in Yemen’s west left at least 62 combatants dead, including 37 Houthis, military sources from both camps told AFP.

The government’s Saba news agency also said the Houthis fired a missile at the city of Taiz, which is held by government forces, wounding five civilians.

“We went out into the street to check on the wounded and saw young civilians who had been hit. The Houthi shell landed in the middle of the street, right in an area crowded with civilians,” Taiz resident Al-Fateh al-Eisaei told AFP.

Yemen’s government has announced a goal of retaking all Houthi territory — home to most of the country’s population, and much of it held for more than a decade.

The war has also caused a humanitarian crisis that has left most of the nation’s population dependent on aid.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration on Wednesday (October 7, 2026) said more than 200,000 people have been internally displaced by the latest round of fighting.

It also expressed alarm at the lack of funds available to counter the crisis in one of the world’s poorest nations.

Mohammed, a 33-year-old charity worker who fled from Mocha to Aden, told AFP on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) that “people there are terrified”.

“Life in Mocha has come to a complete standstill,” he said.

Published – October 07, 2026 10:34 pm IST

Iran-backed Houthis said on Monday (October 5, 2026) they had struck Riyadh’s international airport, an oil refinery and other sites in Saudi Arabia, as the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said they had destroyed Houthi targets on the Red Sea coast.

Pakistan and Turkiye have pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defence pact following weeks of Houthi attacks, as Riyadh and its Yemeni government allies began an ambitious push aimed at retaking all territory held by the group.

The fighting in Yemen has become the most active front in the West Asia war in recent weeks, displacing more than 1,84,000 people, the United Nations says, and deepening the conflict that has engulfed the wider region.

The Houthis previously controlled much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the western city of Hodeida, but seized swathes of coastline last month along the Red Sea and key Bab al-Mandab Strait, in Yemen’s deadliest fighting in years.

The Houthis have also been attacking neighbouring Saudi Arabia since Yemen’s civil war flared back to life and have declared a maritime blockade on its ships.

The Yemeni military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes and began an offensive against Sanaa, while the Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognised government said 100 warplanes flew sorties at dawn.

Turki Al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said on X that its naval forces had hit “military targets” belonging to the Houthis in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast.

They “destroyed weapons depots, facilities storing booby-trapped boats and naval mines” and had “thwarted a planned attack” targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea, he said.

Later, the military said it had driven the Houthis from the area surrounding the Bab al-Mandeb Strait — a vital route for maritime traffic — including the port city of Mocha, Dhubab airport and Al-Omari military camp.

They also said they expelled the Houthis from several areas in Taiz in the southwest, where deadly fighting has surged in recent days.

Military sources stopped short of confirming an official announcement of Mocha’s recapture, saying that pro-government forces had cut off the only supply route to the port.

UN ‘deeply concerned’

Loud explosions rattled the Saudi capital on Monday (October 5, 2026) evening, with a Houthi spokesman saying the group had hit King Khalid International Airport, a refinery belonging to state oil giant Aramco and other targets in the kingdom’s south.

It came a day after Yemen’s government announced the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory — home to most of the country’s population, and much of it held for more than a decade.

Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkiye held an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday (September 5, 2026) under the auspices of a joint defence agreement signed in August committing them to come to each other’s aid in the event of any attack.

They also agreed “to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom”.

The statement did not specify what role the troops would fill once in Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting”, and condemned “the continued Houthi cross-border attacks” on Saudi Arabia.

Houthi attacks have repeatedly targeted Saudi oil infrastructure, as well as its tankers in the Red Sea.

A source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack on Sunday (October 4, 2026) had again halted pumping by the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a key conduit for the kingdom’s exports since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the wider West Asia war.

Crude prices had already been soaring as a result of the West Asia war before the Houthis began targeting the world’s largest oil exporter.

Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday (October 5, 2026) that global oil stockpiles were “scarily thin” owing to the war.

“The system is already straining,” Mr. Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London.

Published – October 06, 2026 12:10 pm IST