Saudi Arabia is considering whether to support a Yemeni ground campaign to recapture the Red Sea coastline from the Houthi movement, according to The Jerusalem Post, as Houthi attacks on shipping in and around Bab-el-Mandeb strait intensified in early August 2026. On Tuesday, ballistic missiles struck the commercial vessel Tihama in the strait at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, killing crew members — the first crew fatalities from a Houthi attack since a broader conflict involving the United States and Israel with Iran began in February, according to that outlet.
Saudi Arabia weighs backing Yemeni ground offensive as Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping escalate
Saudi Arabia is considering whether to support a Yemeni ground campaign to recapture the Red Sea coastline from the Houthi movement, according to The Jerusalem Post, as Houthi attacks on shipping in and around Bab-el-Mandeb strait intensified in early August 2026. On Tuesday, ballistic missiles struck the commercial vessel Tihama in the strait at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, killing crew members — the first crew fatalities from a Houthi attack since a broader conflict involving the United States and Israel with Iran began in February, according to that outlet.
The Houthis, referred to by Iranian outlets as Ansarullah, are an Iran-backed movement that has controlled Yemen's capital and its northern territories since 2014. According to The Jerusalem Post, they also hold the Red Sea shore facing Saudi Arabia and possess weapons capable of reaching into Saudi territory itself.
Casualty figures from the Tihama strike vary across sources cited by The Jerusalem Post. Yemen's Transport Ministry reported that three missiles hit the vessel in succession and that four crew members — three Pakistanis and one Indonesian — were killed. The coast guard put the toll at six dead and ten wounded, including two Yemeni rescue personnel it said were also targeted. The Saudi daily Al-Watan reported three dead.
The first account of the strike came from Al-Jumhuriya, a network owned by Tareq Saleh, a commander in Yemen's internationally recognised government. The Houthis did not claim responsibility for several hours. That evening, the Houthi-run channel Al-Masirah carried a statement from what it described as the Yemeni armed forces, announcing an operation against a ship carrying Saudi military equipment, without naming the vessel, according to The Jerusalem Post.
British maritime security company Ambrey stated, according to The Jerusalem Post, that the Tihama was neither Saudi-owned nor Saudi-operated and had sailed from Mocha on the Saturday prior to the attack. Iranian outlets reported two separate maritime incidents that day — one in the morning and one at midday.
On August 9, the Houthis said a drone struck the Aramco refinery at Jazan in southern Saudi Arabia, according to The Jerusalem Post. That same day, Houthi forces launched what The Jerusalem Post described as a seventh wave of missile and drone strikes on Mokha, a government-held Red Sea port. Yemen's Health Ministry reported seven civilians killed and 30 wounded, including two children; Al-Watan reported eight killed and 26 wounded.
On August 5, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed a ballistic missile strike on the Saudi oil tanker Wafa off Yanbu, and a second Saudi tanker, the Daisy, in the Gulf of Aden later that day, according to The Jerusalem Post. Riyadh confirmed neither claim.
Saudi Arabia has spent seven months assembling Yemeni government forces from rival militias — some raised by Saudi Arabia, some by the United Arab Emirates — according to The Jerusalem Post. The internationally recognised Yemeni government, seated in the southern port of Aden, has spent a decade fighting the Houthis with Saudi backing while also remaining internally divided.
Fighting also continued inland around Marib, described as the government's stronghold and the centre of Yemen's oil and gas production, according to The Jerusalem Post. Death tolls from Houthi strikes there and in neighbouring Hadramout on August 6 ranged from 17 to 58; a military officer told Xinhua that at least 35 government soldiers were killed.
On the broader economic dimension, The Jerusalem Post reports that China has opened direct talks with the Houthis following a July blockade and now clears its tankers through the strait one ship at a time, keeping Tehran informed, according to Chinese trade outlets and regional officials. China buys most of Iran's sanctioned crude, revenue that according to that outlet helps fund the Houthis. India faces significant exposure because Saudi Arabia was its third-largest crude supplier in June and, with the Strait of Hormuz shut, that oil crosses Saudi Arabia by pipeline and exits via Bab-el-Mandeb. Saudi Arabia also supplies 42 percent of India's diammonium phosphate imports under contracts signed for 3.1 million tons a year, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Where sources differ
- The death toll from the Tihama strike is reported differently: Yemen's Transport Ministry cited four dead; the coast guard cited six dead and ten wounded; the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported three dead.
- Death tolls from Houthi strikes on Marib and Hadramout on August 6 range from 17 to 58 across sources cited by The Jerusalem Post, with Xinhua citing a military officer who said at least 35 government soldiers were killed.
- Saudi Arabia has not publicly confirmed or denied either the reported tanker strikes claimed by Yahya Saree or the drone strike on the Jazan Aramco refinery.
- The sources do not establish what specific military capabilities or timelines would be involved in a potential ground offensive.
- No official Saudi government statement on the proposed ground campaign is present in either source.
- The full extent of the July Hormuz blockade referenced in The Jerusalem Post is not explained in either source.
- The Al Jazeera source provides only a headline and navigation metadata; no substantive reporting content is available from it to synthesise.
- The identities and nationalities of all casualties aboard the Tihama are not fully confirmed across sources.
- The current status of the Tihama vessel after the strike is not reported.
- No Houthi comment on the broader Saudi military build-up or the possibility of a ground offensive is included in either source.
- The Jerusalem Post — original — by JACOB WIRTSCHAFTER/THE MEDIA LINE
- Al Jazeera English
Read the original at The Jerusalem Post