Dubai. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the month-old war in the Middle East on Saturday, claiming two missile launches at Israel, as about 2,500 US Marines arrived in the region. 

The war has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices. The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed.

The Houthis’ entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world’s trade typically passes.

There could be limited relief after Iran on Friday agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the Strait of Hormuz following a UN request. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has given Iran until April 6 to reopen the strait.

Witnesses in Tehran reported heavy strikes late Saturday. Israel's military earlier said that it targeted Iran's naval weapons production facilities, and said that it would finish attacking essential weapons production sites within “a few days." Iran fired missiles toward Israel. The US said that it has struck more than 11,000 Iranian targets in the war.

Houthi Involvement Sparks Concerns
If the Houthis increase attacks on commercial shipping, as they have in the past, it would further push up oil prices and destabilize “all of maritime security,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The impact would not be limited to the energy market.”

The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed.

Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025, saying that it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.

The Houthis' latest involvement would complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia on Saturday for maintenance. Sending it to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025.

The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government in 2015, and they now have an uneasy ceasefire.

Meanwhile, US ships with around 2,500 Marines trained in amphibious landings have arrived, adding to the largest American force in the region in more than two decades. And at least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, trained to land in hostile territory to secure key positions and airfields, have been ordered to the Middle East.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington “can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops."

US Troops Wounded at Saudi Base
More than two dozen US troops have been wounded in Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base in the past week, according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment publicly.

Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at the base Friday, injuring at least 15 troops, five of them seriously, they said.

The base, about 96 kilometers (60 miles) from the Saudi capital Riyadh, was attacked twice earlier in the week, including a strike that wounded 14 US troops, according to the people briefed on the matter.

More than 300 US service members have been wounded in the war. At least 13 have been reported killed.