Houthis join fight against Israel as Iran war moves into second month
The Chronify
The war involving the United States, Israel and Iran entered its second month on Saturday as Yemen’s Houthi movement launched its first attack on Israel since the conflict began, widening the battlefield and raising new fears of a broader regional confrontation. The strike came as US Marines began arriving in the region and diplomatic efforts remained fragile.
Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, while the Houthis later confirmed they had carried out the attack and said more operations would follow. By Sunday, reports indicated the group had launched a second wave of attacks, underscoring its decision to abandon the relative restraint it had shown during the first month of the Iran war.
The Houthis’ entry matters well beyond Israel because of their position on the Bab al Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. During the Gaza war, Houthi attacks there disrupted a large share of global shipping. With Iran still tightly restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the risk of simultaneous pressure on both chokepoints has added to concern over oil supplies, trade routes and broader economic fallout.
Fighting elsewhere in the region also continued to intensify. International reporting said Israeli and US strikes hit targets in Iran on Saturday, while Iran reported civilian casualties in Zanjan and damage to infrastructure sites. In Lebanon, Israeli attacks killed three journalists and nine paramedics in separate incidents, while the reported death toll from Israeli attacks there since March 2 rose to 1,189.
Washington is reinforcing its military posture even as it says it still wants a negotiated end to the war. Thousands of US Marines are moving into the Middle East, and the Pentagon is also weighing broader contingency plans. At the same time, Pakistan is hosting talks with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in an effort to build support for de escalation and a possible negotiation channel between Washington and Tehran.
The result is a war that is becoming harder to contain. With the Houthis now active, Hezbollah still engaged on Israel’s northern front, Gulf states under recurring missile threat, and no confirmed breakthrough on the reported US ceasefire proposal, regional leaders are warning that the conflict could spiral further unless diplomacy starts to match the pace of military escalation.
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