RIYADH, 15 Sept. - (ANA) - Saudi Arabia is coming under increased military pressure on its northern and southern borders, testing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to save the kingdom from the worst of the Iran war. 

 

The closure of the East-West Pipeline and a barrage of missile and drone attacks from the Tehran-aligned Houthis in Yemen over the past week have turned the kingdom from one of the Gulf’s most insulated countries into one of its most vulnerable.

 

Yemen’s Houthi militants have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group’s ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis.

 

The seizure of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the militant group’s swift advance across Yemen’s Red Sea coast, after the capture of the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait.

 

The islands lie 160km north of the strait which is a chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the open ocean and Saudi Arabia’s key Asian markets.

 

The speed of the Houthis’ advance has left Yemen’s Saudi-backed government trying to claw back territory captured by the militants in recent days, while Riyadh grapples with attacks on a critical oil pipeline by Iran-allied militants in Iraq.

 

Threats from Houthis have left Saudi Arabia on high alert, with air alerts flashing across the country daily, while a series of attacks carried out by the militant group using ballistic missiles and drones wounded 13 civilians on Monday.

 

Riyadh isn’t getting help from Washington and lost the United Arab Emirates UAE — its only partner in Yemen — last year, leaving it with few options other than revisiting a war that, in its previous iteration, became a costly, decade-long quagmire. 

 

The kingdom has sought international support, but nothing has been promised at the scale required to reverse the Houthis’ recent advance toward Bab el-Mandeb.

 

Prince Mohammed travels to Egypt today to meet President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as Riyadh considers its options. Barbara Leaf, a former senior US diplomat, told The New York Times that she expects Saudi Arabia to turn to diplomacy, potentially working with other Gulf countries and Iran to reach an “ugly set of arrangements” to end the war.  - (ANA) - 

 

Nearly 94,000 people in Yemen have fled their homes since fighting between the Houthis and government forces escalated this month, the International Organization for Migration said on Monday. About 200 schools have been converted to shelters in south-western Yemen to absorb an influx of families, the International Rescue Committee said.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/15 September 2026 - -