How will the Saudi-UAE alliance react to a rising Houthi threat in south Yemen?

As Houthi confidence in its military arsenal evolves, the war is increasingly moving beyond Yemen’s borders

Last Thursday, Yemen’s Houthis claimed two lethal attacks against a military parade in the southern Yemeni city of Aden and a military site in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam. Shortly afterwards, suicide bombers targeted a police station in Aden’s Sheikh Othman neighbourhood, killing more than 10, but the Houthis did not claim this.

Suicide operations have not been the Houthis’ modus operandi, but we have seen such attacks from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The Islamic State in Yemen ultimately claimed the police station attack, although the group’s presence in the conflict has been peripheral. AQAP currently seems to be refocusing its lethal operations against the UAE-backed Security Belt Forces in Abyan’s al-Mahfad region. A string of attacks have already been claimed.