https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/12/middleeast/yemen-houthi-saudi-us-blame-intl
By Nic Robertson, Lauren Kent
The desperate pleas for air cover from Yemeni generals started coming mid-morning on Thursday. An advance by the Iran-backed Houthis toward Yemen’s strategic port city of Mocha was in full swing, and backup support from chief ally Saudi Arabia was nowhere in sight.
“The Houthis committed everything they had – waves upon waves of fighters … along with their available ballistic missiles and weapons,” a senior Yemeni source attached to their military forces told CNN. The source said he contacted the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and was assured the US was “watching the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming.”
“But the air support never came,” the source said. “And Mocha has now fallen.”
Hours later, on Friday, the Houthis captured another key coastal asset, Perim Island, at the mouth of the Red Sea. The island splits the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in two, giving Tehran de facto control over another key shipping route.
The Houthis’ rapid advance amounts to an extraordinary 36 hours in a conflict that had been largely on ice for years. But the kindling for renewed fighting had been laid for months amid the conflict between the United States and Iran, as Tehran seeks to use oil prices – and their impact on the global economy – as leverage.
Now, Yemen and the Red Sea have the potential to become a true second front in the Iran war.
Why the Houthis’ Lightning Advance Threatens Global Shipping
By Sergio Peçanha, Lazaro Gamio and Weiyi Cai
Updated Sept. 11, 2026, 3:20 p.m. ET
In a surge of attacks this week, the Houthi militia struck across Yemen’s border into Saudi Arabia; captured a strategic port on the Red Sea; and seized an island at the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The swift advance tightens the Iran-backed group’s grip on a crucial choke point of global oil and cargo shipping.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait is just 12.5 miles wide at some points, making it a narrow passage for cargo ships heading from Asia and the Middle East to the Suez Canal.
Shipping lanes through the strait run less than three miles from Perim Island, well within range of the Houthis’ missiles and drones.
THANK YOU, DONALD TRUMP, AND THAT OTHER MORON, PETE KEGBREATH. AND YOUR TWO “NEGOTIATORS” — KUSHNER AND WIKOFF.
Why does Saudi Arabia need US assistance? They have a huge air force: They have 72 Typhoons, 81 Tornados, 232 F-15’s and refueling planes — let them have at it.
Get some help from Eygpt, they make about 10 billion a year off the Suez Canal which will drop to zero with no Red Sea traffic.
Where our military would fight from . . . seeing as how Iran has destroyed all our Mideastern bases and our ships are, well, you know, not very well
supplied.
Send them Barron, Eric, and Jr. to show trust and honest intent in meaningful negotiation.
Meanwhile, Trump is off in Ireland at a golf tournament and Kegbreath is working on his pushups.