US Backs Saudi Yemen Offensive as War Resumes — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Yemen's Saudi-backed government launched a major offensive on Sunday to retake territory held by the Iran-backed Houthis, which President Rashad al-Alimi said covers roughly 70% of the population including the capital Sanaa.
- Saudi forces conducted 50 air and missile strikes in 12 hours per Houthi officials, while the Houthis retaliated by launching ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco oil facilities — one near Riyadh engulfed in flames.
- The United States is providing Saudi Arabia "everything short of direct combat, mainly intelligence and targeting data," per US officials who spoke to Axios on Friday, even though President Trump earlier this month rebuffed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's request for US airstrikes on the Houthis.
- Yemen's government could mobilize as many as 100,000 troops, one of the largest military buildups since the 2022 truce that halted the prior eight-year civil war.
- The UN Development Program estimates Yemen's earlier war caused 377,000 excess deaths by the end of 2021, including 259,000 children under 5; the International Organization for Migration reports 149,000-plus newly displaced, and the World Food Program says 18.3 million Yemenis face acute food insecurity.
Why it matters: The US is supplying targeting data for an offensive that could field 100,000 troops against a country the UN says already lost 377,000 people — including 259,000 children under 5 — in its last war, while a Houthi counter-strike on a Saudi Aramco facility near Riyadh puts a fresh energy-infrastructure target inside the loop.
Ask SkimNews
