The final days of 2024 saw a new wave of military operations between the West—including Israel—and the Houthi movement in Yemen, raising fears of further violence in a country already devastated by war.

On December 28, U.S. and British aircraft carried out raids against Houthi positions sites in northwestern Yemen, just four days after an Israeli air attack in which dozens of aircraft took part that hit the international port of Hodeidah, which is under Houthi control.

On December 31, the group announced it had carried out missile attacks against Israeli targets in response to the Western escalation. The operation was the largest since the group launched a series of attacks against Israeli and Western shipping in the Red Sea in late 2023, followed by reciprocal strikes between it and Israel, as well as American and British airstrikes.

In parallel with this military escalation, Washington has waged a diplomatic campaign throughout the final quarter of 2024 to find common ground among factions within the Presidential Leadership Council, a body the international community treats as an executive authority, despite the fact it includes different and sometimes opposed parties—notably the Southern Transitional Council, which seeks secession for southern Yemen.

Members of the executive authority are aware of the desire on the part of Washington and certain international parties to fuel a further escalation that would roll back the territory controlled by the Houthis, but so far no concrete measures have been taken to translate this desire into a practical reality.

The situation in Yemen is likely to escalate further, especially as Donald Trump returns to the White House. His administration is expected to take a tougher approach against Iranian influence in the region. That said, it is uncertain whether that will include internationally backed ground operations in Yemen.

The new U.S. administration could convince the official Yemeni forces to carry out limited ground operations that would strip the Houthi group of its control of Hodeidah port, securing international trade routes and weakening the group financially by depriving it of transport revenues.

The Trump administration may also seek to exert maximum pressure on the Houthis through sanctions, in addition to carrying out precision strikes that would weaken the group’s military capabilities, in the hope of pushing them to sign a road map to end the conflict in Yemen. This appears to be a stronger likelihood, given that regional powers such as Saudi Arabia do not wish to see Yemen collapse back into an extended conflict, and ultimately want to persuade Yemeni parties to agree on a final political solution.