Yemen's presidential council chief calls for mobilization as Houthis advance
Rashad al-Alimi urges Yemenis to join the armed forces as Houthi forces hold the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and push along the Red Sea coast
Published
Map: The Red Sea, marking Bab el Mandeb, Yanbu, Jizan, Najran
Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, has called on Yemenis to mobilize and join the armed forces. The appeal comes as Houthi forces control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and continue to advance along the Red Sea coast.
The call follows a string of claimed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The group has said it struck Saudi Aramco facilities at Yanbu; Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the claim, and tankers have yet to resume loading at the port, though Aramco has said flows could restart soon. The Houthis earlier claimed an attack on Saudi military sites in Jazan, and Saudi civil defence authorities had warned of possible attacks in Jazan and Najran. Oil prices rose sharply after an earlier round of Houthi missile claims against Saudi Arabia.
The mobilization order points to a defensive posture rather than an offensive one. A call to arms from the internationally recognized government underscores how much territory it has already ceded to the Houthis, and how hard it is proving to mount an effective counter-offensive. For markets, that reading is unfavorable: it suggests the threat to regional stability and to oil security along the Red Sea corridor is more entrenched than a single strike or claim would imply.