Iran-backed Houthis enter month-long war, could further threaten global shipping
Iran-backed Houthi rebels have entered the Middle East conflict, launching missiles at Israel as 2,500 US Marines arrive in the region. The escalation threatens global oil shipping via the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, with casualties reported on both sides
Dubai: Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered the month-long war in the Middle East on Saturday, claiming two missile launches at Israel as around 2,500 US Marines arrived in the region.
The war has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertiliser shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices. The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed.
On Sunday, Iran for the first time issued a threat to strike Israeli and American universities in the region.
The Houthis’ entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12 per cent of the world’s trade typically passes.
There could be limited relief after Iran on Friday agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the strait following a United Nations request. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has given Iran until April 6 to reopen the strait.
Witnesses in Tehran reported heavy strikes late Saturday. Israel’s military earlier said it targeted Iran’s naval weapons production facilities that it would finish attacking essential weapons production sites within “a few days”. The US said it has struck more than 11,000 Iranian targets in the war.
Iran fired missiles toward Israel, while air defences early Sunday intercepted missiles and drones across Gulf countries.
Two Israeli strikes early Sunday in the Gaza Strip killed six Palestinians, including three policemen. One attack hit a police checkpoint while another hit a group of people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser hospital, which received the bodies. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes.
Israel’s military said early Sunday that an American-Israeli soldier, originally from New Haven, Connecticut, had been killed while three Israelis were wounded in combat in southern Lebanon. The death raised the total to five soldiers from Israel’s military killed there since the conflict with Hezbollah reignited March 2.
Tehran threatens Israeli and US educational facilities
The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned in a statement Sunday that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region “legitimate targets” without safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.
“If the US government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of (Iranian) universities by 12 o’clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement,” the Guard said.
The Guard also demanded the US stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centres, which have been attacked in recent days.
Houthi involvement sparks concerns
Houthi Brig Gen Yahya Saree said on the rebels’ Al-Masirah satellite television station that they launched missiles toward “sensitive Israeli military sites” in the south.
If the Houthis increase attacks on commercial shipping, as they have in the past, it would further push up oil prices and destabilise “all of maritime security,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The impact would not be limited to the energy market.” The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed.
Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025. The group said it acted in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
The Houthis’ latest involvement would complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia on Saturday for maintenance. Sending the ship to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025.
The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government in 2015 and they now have an uneasy ceasefire.
