Category Archives: Yemen

ALM – Houthi Offensive – Yemen

06 Tuesday Oct 2026

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

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Ai La Mar provides me with a personal morning brief and moves on to offer “deeper situational intelligence and analysis on” the topic that comes to her mind. For the latest OSINT scan, she chose the “Yemeni government offensive near the Bab el-Mandeb strait.” Well, why not? Here’s her report. —J. S. Oppenheim

Illustration of the SAMAD-3 long-range loitering munition, featuring labeled components such as V-tail assembly, antenna mast, rear propulsion motor, and ventral stakes, along with information about its capabilities and operational details.

By Ai La Mer

Strategic Context: The Strait of Hormuz Closure & The Red Sea Pivot

The ongoing 2026 Iran war and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have drastically elevated the strategic importance of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.With Saudi Arabia forced to reroute its oil shipments, the Kingdom experienced an eight-fold increase in seaborne crude exports via the Red Sea between March and mid-July 2026. Consequently, controlling this critical chokepoint—handling roughly 5 to 7 percent of global oil shipments—has become an existential economic and security priority for the Saudi-led Coalition.

The Houthi September Advance

Following the breakdown of a UN-brokered truce in July 2026, Houthi forces focused on dominating Yemen’s coastline.By mid-September, a rapid Houthi offensive utilizing swarm tactics forced the collapse of pro-government lines, capturing the strategic port city and National Resistance supply hub of Mocha.The advance extended to the districts of Hays and Al Khawkhah, Perim Island, and the Hanish Islands, granting the Houthis strategic control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and bringing them within 20 miles of the US military base in Djibouti.In tandem with ground maneuvers, Houthi forces intensified ballistic missile and drone strikes against Saudi oil installations, utility sites, and military bases.

October Counter-Offensive: “Operation Dawn of Yemen”

On October 5, 2026, Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Chief Rashad al-Alimi launched “Operation Dawn of Yemen,” citing the operational goals of dismantling Houthi capabilities and eventually retaking the capital, Sanaa.

  • Ground Maneuvers:Pro-government units, heavily reliant on the Giants Brigades and Nation’s Shield forces, have pushed into the Dhubab district overlooking the strait.These units have reportedly secured the local airport and the overland route connecting Dhubab and Mocha.
  • Air Supremacy:To break Houthi entrenchments, the Saudi-led coalition deployed approximately 100 fighter jets. Military spokespersons report that the coalition executed over 1,000 strikes targeting Houthi artillery, fortifications, supply lines, and reinforcement routes.
  • Contested Claims:While Yemeni government sources and media networks claim their forces have successfully retaken Mocha and resecured the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Houthi-aligned media and officials firmly deny that the government has made these territorial advances.

Airborne Loitering Munitions & UAVs

Houthi airborne strike capabilities rely heavily on technology transfers and modified Iranian designs, adapted for deployment in the rugged Yemeni theater:

  • Qasef Series (Qasef-1 / Qasef-2K): OSINT analysts identify these as direct, localized modifications of the Iranian Ababil-2 drone. They are primarily utilized as tactical loitering munitions (kamikaze drones) to strike coalition air defenses, radar installations, and forward operating bases. They typically utilize GPS waypoint navigation to strike static targets.
  • Samad Series (Samad-2 / Samad-3): Recognized by their distinctive V-tail and rear-engine configuration, the Samad family represents the Houthis’ long-range strike capability. The Samad-3 has an extended operational range, allowing forces in Yemen to reach deep into Saudi Arabia and target critical ARAMCO infrastructure.

Emerging Threat: Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs)

Beyond aerial drones, recent defense intelligence reveals a pivot toward undersea asymmetric warfare, specifically aimed at disrupting Red Sea shipping and contesting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait:

  • “Al-Qari’ah” (The Great Disaster): Recent imagery confirms Houthi deployment of one-way-attack autonomous underwater vehicles (OWA-AUVs). Designed as “loitering torpedoes,” these wake-homing vehicles can target commercial vessels and coalition warships. Intelligence notes from Covert Shores emphasize this represents a distinct capability evolution.
  • Reverse-Engineered Western Tech: The naval expansion is largely fueled by interdicted and captured hardware. Analysis from Strikepod Systems indicates Houthi forces have gained access to sophisticated underwater drone components—such as the American-designed REMUS 600 and Anduril Dive-LD models—which have likely been passed to the IRGC for reverse engineering and returned to Yemen as weaponized platforms.

Countermeasures by the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces (RSADF)

To counter asymmetric loitering munition swarms, the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces (RSADF) employ a multi-layered defense network integrating traditional missile batteries, directed-energy weapons, and electronic countermeasure (ECM) jamming suites.

Hard-Kill Kinetic Interception Systems

  • MIM-104 Patriot (PAC-2 / PAC-3): Serves as the primary high-tier layer for intercepting long-range strike drones (such as the Samad-3) and cruise missiles threatening urban centers and oil processing facilities. While highly effective, using multimillion-dollar PAC-3 interceptors against low-cost loitering munitions creates a severe cost-asymmetry challenge.
  • KM-SAM Block-I & Skyguard 35mm Cannons: Provides mid-to-short range point defense around military airfields and critical energy infrastructure, pairing automated twin-barrel cannons with short-range surface-to-air missiles for close-in interception.

Directed-Energy Weapons (DEW)

  • Silent Hunter Laser System: Procured from China’s Poly Technologies, this mobile electrically powered fiber-optic laser system operates in the 30–100 kW class. Deployed in key strategic regions such as Al-Diriyah and coastal installations, it targets low-altitude UAVs at ranges up to 4 km by burning through composite fuselages and optics, providing a cost-effective per-shot intercept mechanism (Army Recognition, Defense Mirror).

Electronic Warfare & Soft-Kill C-UAS

  • JN1101 Counter-Drone Jamming System: Mobile electronic warfare vehicles deployed to disrupt radio frequency control signals and sever satellite navigation locks (GPS/GLONASS) on incoming autonomous or remotely piloted UAVs.
  • SAMI / AEC Mobile Counter-UAS Suites: Developed through Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and the Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), these vehicle-mounted units integrate passive RF detection sensors, optronic tracking, and multi-band directional jammers to neutralize swarm formations before they reach weapon release points (Janes Defence).

Sensor & Early-Warning Radar Network

  • AN/FPS-117 & AN/TPS-43 3D Radars: Integrated 3D air-search phased-array radars networked across the southern border and Red Sea coastline to detect low-flying, low-radar-cross-section airframes operating at low altitudes.

For further primary coverage and intelligence monitoring, refer directly to reports from Al Arabiya English, regional updates by The Media Line, and syndicated intelligence via The Jerusalem Post.

Also Related Online

Reuters. “Yemeni government forces attack Houthi positions near Bab al-Mandeb.” The Jerusalem Post, October 5, 2026.

The Media Line. “Saudi Arabia Deploys 100 Fighter Jets as Yemeni Forces Secure Bab el Mandeb.” October 6, 2026.

Wikipedia. “Bab al-Mandab Strait crisis”.

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Yemen – Missing from the Story?

05 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Journalism, Middle East, Politics, Regions, Yemen

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Taizz, Yemen. In the foreground, Aschrafiyya Mosque, September 1, 2004. By Bezur, and republished under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0, Wikipedia source address: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taizz.jpg.

Taizz, Yemen. In the foreground, Aschrafiyya Mosque, September 1, 2004. By Bezur, and republished under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0, Wikipedia source address: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taizz.jpg.

For years “human rights” groups, aid organizations, other NGOs, and the United Nations have dishonestly claimed that almost every Israeli military action is a war crime. Beginning March 26, 2015, the Saudi-led Coalition fighting to defeat Ansar Allah—the Houthis—in Yemen has also been accused of war crimes. There’s absolutely no evidence that the Coalition is violating international humanitarian law. The reality is that Coalition air strikes are being carried out with nearly supernatural accuracy. But do you know who’s committing war crimes right out in the open? Russia. Where’s the outcry?

The term “war crime” has completely lost its impact through overuse by liars with agendas. Now nobody cares about genuine atrocities.

First, let me reiterate what I determined by adopting the same methodology as Action on Armed Violence (AOAV): I read English-language media reports about the fighting in Yemen. It’s absolutely clear that the Houthis are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties. When the Coalition carries out major operations against the Houthis, civilian casualties go down.

Wictor, Thomas.  “The danger of calling everything a war crime.”  Thomas Wictor (Blog), September 30, 2015.

Damascus, Syria – A delegation from the pro-Assad Syrian National Defense Army visited Yemen last week through Beirut International Airport, private sources told ARA News.

“Such visits are aimed to increase coordination between the Syrian regime and the Houthi group in Yemen and plan to bring the latter’s members to Syria in order to receive military training as well as to exchange security information between the two sides,” a regime-linked source told ARA News on condition of anonymity.

ARA News.  “Syrian regime coordinates military training with Yemeni Houthis.”  March 9, 2015.

Perhaps there’s more to Yemen’s struggles today than covered by Big Media’s foreign press.

BackChannels hasn’t looked (yet) but while Iranian “war by proxy” appears of evident interest with the March instance of Syrian meddling noted, one may wonder how the middle temperament of the Yemeni people has been either overlooked or inadequately noted and remarked.

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“Happy Yemens” – South-Central Yemenis Shout Out!

05 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Journalism, Links, Middle East, Politics, Regions, Yemen

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What’s Happy Yemens? Happy Yemen, Arabia Felix was the name Romans gave to Yemen. The organization is called Happy Yemens, promoting the interests of South and Central Yemen, two distinct parts of Yemen fighting with the Northern North for the past 800 years that the international community has been trying to silence. The international community is trying to hide our existence, and paint it as a Saudi-Houthi war. They only use voices from Sanaa & the Northern North who have never been to South & Central Yemen, nor do robbers and occupiers understand the reality of whom they have robbed and occupied. Most journalism is “Sanaa journalism” interviewing our occupiers about us. We aim for South and Central Yemenis to speak for themselves rather than our occupiers speak for us.

We are a media collective of South and Central Yemenis around the world. We feel that South ande Central Yemenis are persecuted by the Goebbels style defamation of the “Death to Jews” shouting Houthis who have adopted a neo Nazi ideology and many of its tactics. We want to give South and Central Yemen its own voice

http://happyyemens.org/about/

Bolding and italics added by BackChannels.

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FTAC – Twitter Choice

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by in 21st Century Feudal, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Journal, Middle East, Politics, Syndicate Red Brown Green, Yemen

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Following, for a while. As with so many others incapable of rejecting a sect (in its entirety) within a religion of which one is not a part and over a conflict that is distant and — and I will assign blame to Khamenei and others of feudal mind and ambition — archaic, I don’t want to weigh on the scales. I’ve found the same divide in Shiite and other circles where claim is made about being “the Jews of islam” (and persecuted by Sunni Muslims). Nonetheless, one understands: where this kind of conflict is hot — the bullets are flying and the bombs are going off and lives are being ended, shattered, or threatened in the most direct ways — polarization is as unavoidable as it is destructive and seemingly impossible to repair.

The place where the bullets are flying: Yemen.

The drift of sympathy: against the Houthis as representative of Ayatollah Khamenei’s War by Proxy that in turn defends feudal absolutism and seeks to expand the regime’s power against Sunni interests.

In another and now increasingly distant age — even 25 or 50 years ago may now seem like centuries — the Yemeni part of the Islamic Small Wars would been played as a clipping in the back of the “A” section of the newspapers, a remote tribal war to be overlooked by western indifference.

Those days are gone.

Our Facebook friends are either there or have family and friends who are close to live fire — not only in Yemen but everywhere being razed and ruined by these forces — and we’re watching without recourse to choosing a good and bad side except against the “al-Qaeda Typicals” and the “Hezbollah Virus”, i.e., operations with military wings so awful that the good of the planet would seek to shut down regardless of other disagreements stemming from nominal affiliations and associated cultural, political, and religious self-concept.

Instead, some of us seem to be standing by friends on both sides and hoping the theme of “The Medieval vs The Modern” will catch on before the medieval world, which some are working hard to sustain, swallows the modern.  That outcome may not be possible across continents, but it seems to be proving possible in both the Middle East and Eastern Europe (with Putin-Khamenei as the hub from which so much chaos, destruction, and political confusion emanate).

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Taiz, Yemen – Fighting, Pleading, Fighting

18 Monday May 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics, Syndicate Red Brown Green, Yemen

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Meanwhile, the three-days of talks on Yemen’s future saw hundreds of politicians and tribal leaders gather in the Saudi capital. The meeting was boycotted by the rebels and their Iranian backers voiced objections to the venue of the talks.

Western countries accuse Shiite power Iran of backing the Houthi rebels, something the Islamic Republic and the rebels deny. The absence of the Houthis at the conference in Riyadh, which is to end Tuesday, means the dialogue is unlikely to end the violence.

AP.  “After truce, Saudi-led coalition resumes airstrikes in Yemen.”  Boston Herald.com, May 18, 2015.

Related:

Reuters. “At least 10 killed in overnight fighting in Yemen’s Taiz.”  May 17, 2015.

Posted to YouTube May 17, 2015.

Maria al-Masani: “I am a woman from Taiz, please save my family and loved ones, let the world know about the Houthi genocide of South and Middle Yemen and share this video.”

News24 – Posted to YouTube May 17, 2015.

Link rot inside of hours — the same footage may be seen by searching up “Taiz Battle: Heavy fighting erupts in Yemen streets”, and it should be found on RT’s YouTube channel.  Date of that posting: April 26, 2015.  🙁

Update – 5/18/2015/1330 EDT

Al-Haj.  Ahmed.  “Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen resume after truce expires.”  Houston Chronicle, May 18, 2015.

As suggested by the now blank “News24” patch in this post, even “newsies” appear to lift material and label it new.  BackChannels avoids doing that but until “vetted trusted direct sources” feed up authentic reportage, the view from journalism’s “second row seat to history” may be skewed by what appears and can be accessed in open source online.

Update – 5/19/2015/1251 EDT

SANAA, Yemen — The Saudi-led coalition carried out the heaviest airstrikes near the Yemeni capital since the expiration of a five-day truce with Yemen’s Shiite rebels, hitting weapons depots in the mountains surrounding Sanaa and shaking several residential areas on Tuesday.

The bombardment began shortly after midnight Monday, with airstrikes targeting rebel-held military depots in the mountains of Fag Atan and Noqom, where missiles, tanks and artillery are kept, the residents said.

Al-Haj, Ahmed.  “Saudi-led coalition carries out some of the heaviest airstrikes on Yemeni capital after truce.”  Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 19, 2015.

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Aden

13 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics, Yemen

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Reuters – April 13, 2015.

Iran’s war-by-proxy sneaked under cover of negotiations over its nuclear program has tragically turned Aden, Yemen into another battered middle east war zone in the fashion known to “Putin-Khamenei-Assad” — merciless, mindless, piratical, and ruthless.

The troika have been waging the medieval against the modern — the destructive and thieving potential of absolute power against the productive democratic distribution of power — for years, and visible so since the onset of Syria’s civil war.  With the distribution of military personnel into Crimea and Yemen, the dynamic Putin-Khamenei duo have brought payback in flooded oil markets and online opprobrium, although I don’t think either Putin or Khamenei bothered by criticism, at least not on the surface and outside of their bailiwicks.

Three sources in the southern port city’s anti-Houthi militias said the Iranians, identified as a colonel and a captain, were seized in two separate districts that have been rocked by heavy gun battles.

“The initial investigation revealed that they are from the Quds Force and are working as advisors to the Houthi militia,” one of the sources told Reuters.

Mukhashaf, Mohammed.  “Yemeni militiamen say captured two Iranian officers in Aden.”  Swissinfo.ch, April 11, 2015.

“How can Iran call for us to stop the fighting in Yemen?” asked the the top Saudi diplomat at a news conference alongside French counterpart Laurent Fabius. “We came to Yemen to help the legitimate authority, and Iran is not in charge of Yemen.”

Tharoor, Ishaan.  “Saudi and Iranian leaders wage war of words as Yemen burns.”  The Washington Post, April 13, 2015.

Justice, Adam.  “Yemen: Food shortages and ‘people have not water’ in Aden as fighting rages.”  April 13, 2015.

VICE – September 10, 2014.

Lonely bloggers cannot compete with funded international media in reporting the news, unless we have unusual friends on the ground.

However, as audience to mainstream media — and conflict adventure media — we may wrap events differently online, read about what we are seeing when we’re offline, and perhaps approach conflict and political analysis with something combining humanism, journalism, and scholarship.

As regards the above clip, this blogger may reflect on what a single lie can do in the way of evil.

At 2:31 in the video immediately above, Iman Dr. Taha says to his gathering, “I told him, “What are you doing?  Your country is getting destroyed.  This is all part of an action by American intelligence.  And today, a new order was given telling the world that 70% of foreigners are terrorists who want to rip our country apart.  They want to kill our people and our nation and destroy our unity.  The faith is Yemeni and the wisdom is Yemeni.  God is great.  Death to America.”

That audience: handled, misguided, maneuvered, used.

It appears they haven’t the means or temerity to question what they’re told (and independently discover for themselves who has been lying to them all along — and why).

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Be Careful of the Truth – Crucifixion in Yemen Appears True

31 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Yemen

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On August 22, 2012, I picked up a story making the rounds on Facebook having to do with reporting the emergence of crucifixion in Egypt, and I looked into it (“Be Careful of the Truth — Crucified Christians in Egypt — Not Corroborated”).

A downloaded copy of the photograph accompanying the claim yielded no IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) data, and continued web searching led me to what I considered a reliable debunking.

However, with credit extended to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), not only the picture but a video clip of the same appeared in relation to a spy caught having betrayed an Islamist group in Yemen.

I saw it first here on the Blazing Cat Fur blog, n.d.

And found a listing for something at least like it here:

#3552 – Man Crucified by Al-Qaeda in Yemen – Viewer Discretion Advised
The Internet – August 27, 2012 – 01:14

A subscription is required to view it — same or different, but same category — on the MEMRI site, and I’m looking into that.

The flip with dates (August 22, first round; August 27, posted by MEMRI; by August 30, well along in the anti-Jihad industry) I take as indicative of how information continues to crawl off the street and up to the web from the world’s most remote locales.

In the meantime, the Blogosphere seems to have picked it up and gotten its facts straight — “Sheik Yer Mami” (Winds of Jihad) notes a Jihad source on YouTube as a  primary location (see “Crucifixion in Yemen,” August 30, 2012 for the video plus that detail).

I suspect most believe the “War on Terror” involves neutralizing a number of violent moral entrepreneurs and their networks, but to my mind that’s a small part of a much, much larger story having to do with the development, installation, and continuing support of certain critical and laudable values and virtues worldwide, starting with the definition of “good conscience” (it’s not mapped the same for  everywhere, one reason I’ve launched this blog)) and then the possession by persons and groups of credibility and integrity within themselves and in relation to other persons across a world rapidly integrating its communicating and information resources and content.

War may be called deception; taqiyya may be advised: evil, however, begins with such easily digested lies and the lies to come from having swallowed both.

In war, deception may be a tactic, but wars are about other things — e.g., the possession of resources; the displacement, modification, or termination of cultures and their customs and languages — and “taqiyya”, ever loosely accessed (one well may lie to save life — for the western mind, there’s not much need to put a label on that), seems only to serve to make liars out of people who would otherwise be forthright.

When an overzealous, special interest press chooses to copy a photograph appearing in one context or application in an event alleged to have taken place elsewhere, it corrupts, dishonors, and sabotages itself.

Yesterday in Eritrea; yesterday in Somalia; yesterday in Waziristan; yesterday in Gaza: aggressive spoilers, parties to war, parties to cultural imperialism or annihilation (both) in the name of one cause or another, could, would, and did, with impunity, fabricate stories a very few or none could check.  Their common intention (never mind ends): power through the manipulation of perception in line with  mercenary agendas.

For the more remote regions of our planet, that thing called “yesterday” is closing, swept away by camera phones, tablets with recorders, and the World Wide Web.

It may go shaking its fists.

It may go slowly.

However difficult it may be to see it; however short our lives in comparison to such processes — and this across a frontier unique in recorded history, i.e., a frontier about mind globally — the past that has been past for some time will recede.

“I C U”.

Remember that?

Do.