Yemen’s government launches Saudi-backed offensive against the Houthis as US builds up forces

Yemen’s government has initiated military operations against the Houthis with the support of Saudi Arabia. Yemeni President Rashad Al Alimi said the decision was made after exhausting all other de-escalation avenues, and that the campaign will continue until the government takes back control of Houthi-held territory.

Coordinating with regional allies: A committee under the Makkah Agreement for Joint Defense between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, ​and Pakistan will convene in ‌Riyadh today, according to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry. The talks will address “regional developments and the stage reached in the Alliance’s institutionalization efforts,” the statement said.

Smoke rose near an Aramco facility in Riyadh on Saturday after it was hit in a Houthi missile and drone attack, Reuters reports. The Yemeni Coalition also said a Houthi strike on the Taibah distribution station in Madinah — which feeds the Prophet’s Mosque — took one power transformer offline without affecting the wider grid. The Houthis have denied this. Over the weekend, Saudi forces intercepted five ballistic missiles and four drones aimed at Khamis Mushait and Jazan, coalition spokesman Turki Al Maliki said.

On the other front…

The US is deploying seven additional warships and at least 9k troops to the Middle East as President Donald Trump considers resuming strikes on Iran following November's midterm elections, the Financial Times reports. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is expected to arrive in the region by late November, either joining or replacing two carriers already stationed there. Throughout the conflict with Iran, the US military has maintained a footprint of around 20 warships and over 50k troops in the region.

The deployment signals a major escalation in the US military posture and heightens the risk of direct confrontation with Tehran. It also follows the complete exit of US troops from Iraq’s territory last week. Although US and Iranian officials held talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, prospects for a deal remain slim. Mediators are expected to present an updated draft of an interim agreement to Iran this week.

The US Treasury expanded its Iran sanctions campaign to target Middle Eastern suppliers servicing Tehran’s automotive, rail, and metals sectors. The sanctions aim to disrupt an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) funding stream through the automotive industry, which the US claims “is deeply intertwined with IRGC patronage networks, enabling corruption, trade-based money laundering, and even the exploitation of prison labor,” according to a statement from the US Treasury Department.

The measure marks the latest escalation in a series of sweeping sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime since President Trump announced Operation Economic Outcast on 24 August. The campaign is leveraging secondary sanctions to force non-Iranian players to comply, with several airports now blocking Iranian airlines over the threat.