# Yemen > [!info] Gateway page > Orientation on Yemen is here. The war is at [[Yemeni Civil War]] and the movement that holds the capital is at [[Houthis]]. **Yemen** sits at the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula, on one bank of the [[Bab el-Mandeb]], the strait every ship must pass to travel between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. That geography is why its civil war reached American fuel prices in 2026 (see [[Gas Prices]]). **It has been at war since 2014 and has no single government.** The [[Houthis]], a northern movement armed by [[Iran]], took the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and still hold it, along with the most populous parts of the country. The internationally recognized government sits in the southern port of Aden and depends on [[Saudi Arabia]]. A third force, the southern separatists organized as the [[Southern Transitional Council]], wants to undo the 1990 merger of North and South Yemen and was long funded by the [[United Arab Emirates]]. **The coalition against the Houthis broke before the Houthis did.** Saudi Arabia and the Emirates entered the war together in 2015. In December 2025 the separatists seized two provinces on the Saudi border, Saudi jets bombed an Emirati arms shipment, and the Emirates left the country. That quarrel, which now runs through Sudan and the Horn of Africa as well, is at [[Saudi-Emirati Rivalry]]. **In 2026 the war became part of a larger one.** After the [[Iran War 2026]] closed the [[Strait of Hormuz]], the Houthis took Yemen's entire Red Sea coast in September, putting Iran-aligned forces astride both of the region's oil chokepoints. By early November they had besieged Taiz, the third-largest city, and advanced to within 80 kilometers of Aden. Their missiles reach Saudi airports and oil facilities; Saudi aircraft bomb Houthi-held territory, including around Sanaa. **The cost is carried by civilians.** The UN estimated 377,000 dead by the end of 2021, most from hunger and disease rather than combat. In autumn 2026 about three-quarters of households could not meet their basic food needs, by the UN's reckoning. A caution on numbers: almost every casualty figure from the 2026 fighting comes from one of the warring parties and cannot be independently checked. ## Where to go from here | Destination | What's there | |---|---| | [[Yemeni Civil War]] | The war from 2014 to the present, with a timeline | | [[Houthis]] | The movement, its weapons and its Red Sea campaign | | [[Southern Transitional Council]] | The southern separatists and their Emirati backing | | [[Saudi-Emirati Rivalry]] | Why the anti-Houthi coalition turned on itself | | [[Bab el-Mandeb]] | The strait, and how it reaches American prices | | [[Hegseth Signalgate]] | The 2025 leak of U.S. strike plans against the Houthis | ## See also [[Saudi Arabia]] · [[United Arab Emirates]] · [[Iran]] · [[Axis of Resistance]] · [[Somaliland]] · [[Countries Hub]]