Onlykashmir.in News Desk
A Saudi-backed coalition has accused Yemen’s Houthi movement of an attack on Medina, even as Yemen’s internationally recognised government said its warplanes had carried out 20 strikes against Houthi positions in Taiz province, in the most serious escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned group in years.
The military spokesperson for Yemen’s government said on Friday that the strikes were carried out over the past three hours and targeted Houthi movements, personnel, vehicles and military equipment. Details of the alleged attack on Medina, one of Islam’s holiest cities, were not immediately available.
The escalation is the most serious since a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted cross-border attacks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. That truce had brought relative calm to a conflict that began in 2014 and devastated Yemen. Its fraying now raises fears of a return to full-scale hostilities.
Taiz is at the heart of the current fighting. Unchallenged Houthi occupation of the southwestern province would hand the group full control over the country’s north, tighten its grip on the Red Sea coast and give it easier access to the south and the port city of Aden, seat of the internationally recognised government. The renewed conflict has already displaced tens of thousands of people, adding to a humanitarian situation that has long been among the gravest in the world.
The implications extend well beyond Yemen’s borders. A stronger Houthi position on the Red Sea coast would bear on shipping lanes and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a narrow chokepoint through which a large share of global maritime trade passes. Any disruption there raises costs and delays for cargo moving between Asia, Europe and Africa.
India has a direct stake in these developments. A significant portion of its trade with Europe travels through the Red Sea, and a large Indian community lives and works in Saudi Arabia, while many Indian pilgrims visit Medina every year. New Delhi will be watching the security of both sea lanes and Saudi territory closely.
With Taiz now the focus of the fighting and an alleged strike on Medina adding a new dimension, diplomatic efforts to restore the 2022 truce are likely to be tested in the days ahead.
