Yemen’s Houthis have officially entered the war against the US and Israel, exactly one month after hostilities began on February 28. The Houthis fired missiles towards Israeli targets for the first time since the war in Iran started, adding further complexity to the already volatile geopolitical situation in the region.
The conflict has now transformed from a US-Israeli operation targeting Iran’s top leadership into a limited regional war with wider implications.
Two of Iran’s major proxy groups — Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in Iraq — are already fighting alongside Iran and targeting US bases in the region. The entry of the Houthis has further escalated the situation, effectively surrounding Israel and several Gulf nations and drawing them deeper into the conflict.
The Houthis had stayed out of the hostilities until now. Unlike during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, when they launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea — damaging vessels and disrupting global trade at an estimated cost of more than $1 trillion a year — they are now directly targeting Israel.
The group appears determined to make Israel pay economically by disrupting shipping traffic in the Red Sea once again.
The missile attacks came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Washington expected to conclude its military operations against Iran within weeks. This statement was made even as a new deployment of US Marines began arriving in the region to handover President Donald Trump “maximum” flexibility to adjust strategy as needed.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Ministry of Health announced that 1,937 people have been killed since the start of the conflict, including 230 children. Iran’s Red Crescent Society said US-Israeli strikes had damaged more than 93,000 civilian properties.
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