Houthis Threaten Strikes on Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan as Yemen Intervention Escalates

Yemen's Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, has threatened military strikes against Egyptian, Turkish and Pakistani interests. The warnings were reported on September 22, 2026, as Saudi Arabia pressed its partners to provide military help against the group. The threats name three countries that do not usually appear on the Houthis' list of declared enemies, and they come as the group faces the prospect of more foreign forces in the war.

Reports of the threats did not include direct quotes from Houthi officials or say what kind of strikes the group had in mind. They also did not describe what military role Cairo, Ankara or Islamabad might play in Yemen. None of the three governments had publicly answered the warnings when the story was published.

Of the three, Pakistan has the most formal security tie to Riyadh. On September 17, 2025, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, which treats aggression against either country as aggression against both. Egypt has its own reason to worry about the Houthis. The group's attacks on Red Sea shipping began in November 2023 in response to the war on Gaza, and they pushed many vessels away from the Suez Canal. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the disruption cost Egypt about $7 billion in canal revenue in 2024.

The Houthis have held Sanaa since September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015, and the war that followed caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The group has since launched missiles and drones at Saudi and Emirati territory, at commercial ships and at Israel. That drew US and Israeli strikes on Yemen in 2024 and 2025.

The Gulf has a direct stake. In early 2024, QatarEnergy stopped sending its LNG tankers through the Red Sea because of the Houthi attacks, which showed how a wider war in Yemen threatens shipping and energy routes that Gulf economies rely on. Doha has long backed a negotiated settlement under UN auspices, and it has argued that bringing more foreign forces into the war would lengthen it.