The Middle East’s Most Overlooked Threat

Among the broader regional effects of the October cease-fire in Gaza, one of the more significant was supposed to be a new calm in the Red Sea and potentially in Yemen. Indeed, as a result of the truce, the Houthis paused their attacks on commercial shipping and Israel. An earlier Omani-brokered agreement also seemed to wind down the direct Houthi threat to U.S. assets. Within Yemen, a fragile truce in the civil war between the Houthis and the internationally recognized government was still in place. Although the Houthis were not defeated, U.S. officials seemed to believe that the situation had quieted and they could turn their attention elsewhere. Less than two months later, that relative calm is fading. In early December, southern Yemeni separatists launched a major campaign to seize large parts of the Hadramawt, an oil-producing region bordering Saudi Arabia, and Mahra, a province bordering Oman. The offensive marks a seismic shift in the country’s balance of power... 

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