SANAA (Dispatches) -- For more than four years, a fragile truce prevailed in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition and the Ansarullah resistance movement had largely held their fire. That truce now lies in ruins.
In a strategic masterstroke, Yemen’s Ansarullah has seized on a vulnerable moment for Saudi Arabia—a kingdom reluctant to enter another war—to force political concessions and expose the treachery of Riyadh’s alignment with Western and Israeli interests. 
The resistance has cornered the Saudis, turning their own strategic vulnerabilities into weapons against them.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long presented itself as a defender of Arab sovereignty and the Palestinian cause. Yet the actions of recent weeks reveal the true nature of the regime in Riyadh: a subservient pawn of American imperialism, willing to sacrifice the interests of the Arab and Muslim worlds for the sake of Western approval. 
According to the New York Times, Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, has been forced to rely on a critical workaround to maintain its oil exports after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.
The treachery is evident. While claiming to defend Yemen’s sovereignty, Riyadh has insisted that Sana’a International Airport should operate only with the approval of the Saudi king, despite repeated demands to lift restrictions on civilian and humanitarian flights. 
Last week, Ansarullah accused Saudi Arabia of striking Yemen’s main international airport in Sana’a. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman, said the blockade came in response to a “continued Saudi siege” on Yemen, accusing the neighboring country of keeping ports and airports closed and imposing land, sea, and air restrictions for years.
Against this backdrop of Saudi perfidy, Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance has demonstrated remarkable strategic acumen. Last week, the movement declared a maritime blockade on Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandab Strait, threatening to open a new front in the West Asia war and raising the pressure on volatile global energy markets.
The timing is devastating for Riyadh. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Saudi Arabia had been moving millions of barrels of oil west each day through a pipeline to its Red Sea ports. 
From there, most vessels navigated through the Bab el-Mandab to reach customers in Asia. In recent months, Saudi Arabia had been exporting around 3.6 million barrels of oil and related fuels a day via the Bab el-Mandab—a dramatic increase from fewer than one million barrels before the war.
By controlling this chokepoint, Ansarullah has effectively cornered the kingdom. Yemen sits alongside the Bab el-Mandab, a narrow waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea. 
If that is also blocked, it will further constrict world fuel markets. With concurrent disruptions across both the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, analysts estimate that approximately a quarter of 
global oil supply is currently exposed to risk, and Brent crude has pushed toward $100 per barrel.
Yemeni forces have shown they will not be cowed. Saree warned that any move by Riyadh would be met with “a total and harsh escalation”. Ansarullah has also declared its readiness to respond to any Saudi reprisal.
Initial indicators reflect immediate disruption. Two oil tankers heading toward the Bab el-Mandab made U-turns and were moving north toward the Suez Canal, according to Kpler, a maritime data company. Nearly a dozen vessels either turned back or completely avoided the strait. A Saudi-linked vessel was targeted in the Red Sea on Friday, with officials confirming minor damage.
Yet even a limited offensive by Yemen would worry markets and raise prices. As Gregory Brew, a senior analyst with the Eurasia Group, told the New York Times: “Oil prices would be likely to climb above $100 a barrel this month unless we get decisive de-escalation between the United States and Iran.”
Saudi Arabia has condemned the maritime blockade and vowed to take “all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law”. 
Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, declared that Yemen’s “threats to transiting ships will be met with full firmness and force”. Yet the kingdom finds itself trapped by its own policies—unwilling to enter another war, yet unable to accept humiliation at the hands of the Yemeni resistance.
The Yemeni resistance has demonstrated that strategic patience, unified action, and the willingness to impose costs on adversaries can force even the most powerful regional actors to reconsider their aggression. 
The Saudi regime, having spent billions on a war it could not win, now faces the consequences of its treachery—cornered at Bab el-Mandab, with its export lifeline held at the mercy of the very resistance it sought to destroy.