Arabic version: يمنيون يخشون تداعيات الحصار الحوثي على السعودية

According to Al Jazeera, Yemenis are responding with anxiety, support and anger after the Houthis announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia and later declared attacks on two Saudi ships. The group says the move answers what it describes as Saudi restrictions on rebel-controlled areas of Yemen.

Ammar Saleh, a 32-year-old schoolteacher in Sanaa, said the announcement raised fears that Yemen’s relative quiet could end after more than a decade of war. He said Houthi-controlled provinces could again become battlefields, with fuel shortages and a worsening humanitarian crisis. Abdulla Yahya, a 25-year-old construction worker, said a full-scale war could drive up prices, disrupt fuel and reduce work opportunities.

Abdulla said he could not afford extra cooking gas and food supplies for his family. He said flour, rice, cooking oil and an additional gas cylinder would cost about 55,000 Yemeni riyals, or $230. United Nations estimates say almost 20 million people in Yemen need humanitarian aid, while the absence of a political settlement continues to complicate the conflict.

Some Houthi supporters in Sanaa welcomed the blockade. Mohammed Ali, a 26-year-old university graduate, said Saudi Arabia had no right to decide which ships could reach Yemeni ports or which planes could fly in its airspace. He described the embargo as long overdue and said he was not concerned about renewed war.

Opponents of the Houthis said the attacks showed the group’s ties to Iran. Mohammed Karim, a resident of Hodeidah, called the blockade an “act of obedience to Iran”. Yemeni political analyst Saddam Al Huraibi said the decision could lead to wider conflict and potentially bring military losses for the Houthis. Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said it would respond to threats against commercial ships with resolve, calling them violations of international law and acts of maritime piracy.