Yemen
Conflict-ridden Arab state on the Arabian Peninsula; site of a prolonged civil war involving Houthi rebels, Saudi-led coalition, and US strikes.
Last refreshed: 28 March 2026
The world's worst humanitarian crisis sits on the world's second most important oil chokepoint. Now Ansar Allah is firing at Israel.
Latest on Yemen
- Why is Yemen important in the Iran war?
- Yemen controls the eastern shore of Bab al-Mandeb, one of the world's critical oil chokepoints. Ansar Allah (Houthis) entered the conflict on 28 March 2026 by firing at Israel, raising the prospect of a simultaneous blockade alongside Hormuz.Source:
- Where is Yemen?
- The southernmost country on the Arabian Peninsula, bordered by Saudi Arabia and Oman. Its western coast faces the Red Sea; the Bab al-Mandeb strait separates it from Djibouti and the Horn of Africa.
- Is Yemen still at war in 2026?
- The Saudi-led civil war has been under a fragile Ceasefire since 2022, but Ansar Allah controls the north and west. In March 2026, the movement entered the Iran conflict by firing missiles at Israel and threatening to close Bab al-Mandeb.Source:
- How many people died in the Yemen war?
- The UN estimates the Saudi-led war (2015-present) killed over 150,000 directly and caused hundreds of thousands of additional deaths from famine and disease. It remains the world's worst humanitarian crisis.Source: UN
- Bab al-Mandeb vs Strait of Hormuz?
- Both are critical oil chokepoints. Hormuz (controlled by Iran) handles 21% of global oil. Bab al-Mandeb (threatened by Yemen's Ansar Allah) handles 10% of global trade. In March 2026, both are under simultaneous threat for the first time.
Background
The poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has been divided since Ansar Allah seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi Arabia-led Coalition intervened in 2015; the resulting war killed hundreds of thousands and produced the world's worst humanitarian crisis. A fragile Ceasefire from 2022 allowed Ansar Allah to consolidate power and significantly upgrade its missile and drone arsenal with Iranian assistance. OCHA has scaled contingency operations across Yemen alongside Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria.
Yemen returned to the centre of the 2026 Iran conflict when Ansar Allah fired Ballistic Missiles at Israel on 28 March, ending a month of restraint that had surprised analysts. The movement's entry raises the prospect of a simultaneous blockade at Bab al-Mandeb, compounding Iran's Strait of Hormuz closure and threatening two of the world's three critical oil chokepoints at once.
Yemen's strategic value lies in its geography: it controls the eastern shore of Bab al-Mandeb, through which 10% of global trade and 4.5 million barrels of oil pass daily. Between 2023 and 2025, Ansar Allah's Red Sea shipping attacks halved traffic through the strait and triggered the largest naval escort operation since the Cold War.
