Yemen Launches Its Offensive. The Strait Carried 290 Ships.

On 4 October the chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council announced military operations to retake every part of the country the Houthis hold. The same day the Houthis said they had fired missiles and drones at two Saudi Aramco sites. In the last week counted before the announcement, 290 cargo ships passed through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

On 4 October 2026, Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, announced the start of a Yemen offensive against the Houthis. “I announce today the commencement of military operations,” he said in the address published on his official website. “The operations aim to restore the remaining territory of the Republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory.” Confirmed

This publication's Conflict and Security coverage has followed the war around Iran through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. This piece sets down what the Yemeni government announced, who has said they stand behind it, what each side claims to have done in the first day, and what the shipping and price records show as the operation began.

What Yemen's Offensive Announcement Says

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, address of 4 October 2026, as published in English on his official website. Confirmed

The address names the governorates the Houthis hold and tells the people living in them that the operation is not aimed at them: “this is not a war against our people in Sana'a, Saada, Hodeidah, Amran, Dhamar, Ibb, or any other governorate.” It tells civilians to stay away from military positions and supply routes, keeps open an amnesty for fighters who lay down their arms, and says the government has been directed to prepare a programme to resume paying state salaries in each area as it is retaken. Confirmed

Al Jazeera places the announcement in sequence. Fighting between the Houthis and government forces intensified after a truce agreed in 2022 broke down in July. In mid-September the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Confirmed as reported The seizure of Mayun Island in the strait was the subject of this publication's report of 12 September.

Who Has Said They Stand Behind It

The address thanks one country by name. “We cannot but express our profound gratitude to our loyal brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” al-Alimi said, and described the state as acting “with the sincere support of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy” to “safeguard waterways on behalf of the entire world.” He asked “all our brothers and friends in the international community to stand with Yemen, its Armed Forces, and its national institutions.” Confirmed

Early on 4 October a figure of 97 “precise targeting operations” against Houthi positions was announced. Al Jazeera attributes it to the Saudi-led coalition, on the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis, using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers. The National attributes the same figure to the Yemeni armed forces spokesman, Colonel Majed Al Nuzaili, on fronts in Taiz and Lahij. The number matches. The two outlets name different speakers for it. Confirmed as reported

The National, citing Reuters, reports that Saudi Arabia is weighing operations on several fronts to push the Houthis back and secure the Red Sea shipping route. Confirmed as reported

Twelve days before the announcement, on 22 September in New York, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the European Union's High Representative, issued a joint statement on Yemen. It expresses “full solidarity with the legitimate Government of Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” condemns “in the strongest terms” continued Houthi strikes “in Yemen and against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” and calls on Iran to end its arming of the Houthis “in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions 1747, 2140 and 2216.” Global Affairs Canada published it. Confirmed

What Each Side Claims About the First Day

Both armies are parties to the fighting, and every figure below comes from one of them. Where Al Jazeera and The National both carry a claim, the fact that it was made is marked Confirmed. Whether any claim is accurate is a separate question that neither outlet has resolved.

Al Jazeera and The National, 4 October 2026. The 50 strikes and 260 figures appear in The National only.

On the Aramco claim the record disagrees with itself. The National reports that flames engulfed part of an Aramco site south of Riyadh on 3 October, in images published by international news agencies, and that the Houthis claimed responsibility. The coalition spokesman, Major General Turki Al Malki, dismissed the claim as “misleading,” in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat carried by The National. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm an attack, and Aramco did not comment on the cause of the fire. Contradicted

“The militia's capabilities will not be safe from the fire of our armed forces, and we will destroy them,” Col. Al Nuzaili said in remarks aired on Saudi state television, according to The National. The National reports that his casualty claims could not be independently verified. Confirmed as reported

The Bab al-Mandeb Shipping Record Before the Offensive

The Bab al-Mandeb is the southern gate of the Red Sea. Crude that Saudi Arabia moves by pipeline to its Red Sea coast, around the Strait of Hormuz, leaves the Red Sea through it or north through the Suez Canal.

Lloyd's List Intelligence counts cargo ships over 10,000 deadweight tonnes passing through the strait each week. Its figures across the months of Houthi pressure on Saudi shipping read as follows.

Measured Lloyd's List Intelligence, Red Sea Brief of 6 August 2026 and Red Sea Brief of 1 October 2026. Cargo-carrying vessels over 10,000 dwt.

Lloyd's List Intelligence describes what it calls the Houthis' maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia as taking effect from 20 July. In the week that followed, mainstream tanker transits fell 42 per cent to 53. It also reports that the Joint War Committee extended the Red Sea listed area for war risk insurance about 800 km north, so that calls at Jeddah and Yanbu carry additional premiums. Confirmed as reported

A different count gives a sharper reading for a single day. Anadolu Agency, citing International Monetary Fund PortWatch data, reported in mid-September that only four vessels had passed through the strait in 24 hours against a daily average of 33, a fall of 88 per cent, with tanker transits down 91 per cent. The report was carried by Middle East Monitor on 17 September. Confirmed against indexed excerpts

On 1 October Lloyd's List Intelligence reported that very large crude carriers had resumed loading at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea oil port, as the East-West pipeline came back online. It reports the pipeline is understood to be running at reduced rates, and that a return to full throughput is still expected to take several weeks. That forecast is Lloyd's. Confirmed as reported

Where It Reaches a Household

The G7 statement Canada signed on 22 September names the goods at stake. It calls for maritime security “in order to prevent lasting disruptions to global supply chains, especially with regards to flows of energy, fertilizer and food.” Confirmed

The most recent Canadian price reading is Statistics Canada's Consumer Price Index for August, released on 14 September. The CPI rose 3.0 per cent year over year. Excluding gasoline it rose 2.4 per cent. Gasoline prices rose 22.8 per cent year over year, after 25.7 per cent in July, and in the agency's words “remained elevated, as the conflict in the Middle East continued in August.” Prices for fuel oil and other fuels rose 43.7 per cent, which the agency names as the reason the Atlantic provinces had the highest inflation in the country. Confirmed Measured

Inside Yemen the household reading is direct. The World Food Programme said on 2 October that renewed fighting around Taiz had pushed up food prices and cut off access for aid, and its recent monitoring found that 74 per cent of households in accessible areas could not meet their basic food needs, the highest level recorded this year, according to The National. Confirmed as reported The funding behind that aid was the subject of this publication's report on the UN aid ledger for Yemen.

What the Record Shows

On 4 October Yemen's internationally recognised government announced, in its chairman's own published words, an offensive to retake all Houthi-held territory, and thanked Saudi Arabia by name. The Houthis said they struck two Aramco sites the same day, and the Saudi-led coalition called that claim misleading. Twelve days earlier Canada and the rest of the G7 had declared full solidarity with the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia. In the last week counted before the announcement, 290 ships passed through the Bab al-Mandeb, and in August Canadians paid 22.8 per cent more for gasoline than a year before.

Nothing published here is investment, legal or security advice.