by Leonid Tsukanov
[Regnum] The war in Yemen is rapidly escalating. Houthi forces (Ansar Allah) currently control vast swathes of northern and western Yemen, including the Red Sea coast.
The central government of Yemen, with its capital in Aden, retains control of a significant part of the south and east of the country, as well as the important areas of Marib and Taiz, where active fighting is ongoing.
Passions are so intense and the stakes are so high that both sides are gradually beginning to seek out so-called "game-changers"—tools and tactics that will break the opponent's will. Everything from previously unannounced missiles to deepfakes is being used. However, such moves don't always lead to successful outcomes.
Ansar Allah's opponents—primarily Saudi Arabia—have for years portrayed the Houthis as poorly educated militias fighting with outdated weapons. However, the 2026 campaign has shown that they are quite capable of keeping up with the times.
For example, Anthropic, a company developing AI solutions, discovered that the Houthis were using the Claude app extensively to adjust artillery fire and improve the accuracy of ballistic missile and UAV launches.
To avoid suspicion, Yemeni proxies purchased accounts belonging to residents of other Arab countries (including Saudi Arabia) and Eastern Europe. Later, the British platform Sheba Intelligence reported a similar problem: according to its data, Ansar Allah activists created a network of fake shell organizations that purchased satellite imagery from private individuals and used it to plan operations in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and against targets in Saudi Arabia.
The project didn't stop at simply calculating the projectiles' trajectories: Ansar Allah utilized artificial intelligence to its fullest potential, including actively generating provocative deepfakes featuring senior officers and political figures in the pro-Saudi government.
The most effective was the AI avatar of Lieutenant General Tariq Saleh, one of the leaders of the anti-Houthi camp and a civil war veteran. A fake recording, allegedly showing Saleh ordering an organized retreat from the West Bank, instantly went viral and was shared among dozens of local journalists and online activists. As a result, at least four major units voluntarily abandoned their positions, facilitating the Houthis' capture of strategic heights.
By the time Aden learned of the AI attack and attempted to take action, it was too late: the Houthis had not only escalated their offensive along the coast but also threatened the garrison on the islands at the mouth of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, forcing them to lay down their arms. As a result, the pro-Saudi forces' defenses in the coastal areas, built over years, crumbled.
Subsequently, innovations were noticed not only in the offensive. The Houthis' approach to their defenses also changed. Within two weeks, Ansar Allah fighters dug a network of trenches in the mountainous region of Jabal Kabub, near the coast of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
According to preliminary estimates, the total length of the fortifications is approximately 30 kilometers, and they are constructed using the latest engineering techniques. For the Houthis, accustomed to relying on mobility and daring semi-guerrilla raids in their war with the government in Aden, this behavior appears highly atypical and seemingly dictated from the outside. However, it is entirely consistent with the logic of maintaining long-term control over strategically important territories.
However, it appears that the Houthis aren't the only ones seeking to revise the traditional model of military operations in these parts. Their main adversary, Saudi Arabia, is also seeking alternatives. After the virtual defeat of pro-Saudi forces on the west coast, Riyadh found itself in a vulnerable position. Coupled with the diminishing effectiveness of airstrikes against the advancing forces, the kingdom needed a move with a powerful media impact.
This marked the first use of the Chinese Dongfeng-15A (DF-15A) short-range ballistic missile, the possession of which by the Saudis had previously only been rumored. The DF-15A booster module was discovered, in particular, in Marib province, where fierce fighting has been ongoing for several weeks, with Ansar Allah advance units attempting to drive central government forces into a cauldron.
Given the stated range of the missile (600–900 km), the strike could well have been carried out from the kingdom’s border regions, which could be considered the first instance of Saudi strategic missile forces participating in the war in Yemen.
And judging by the rapidly growing effectiveness of Ansar Allah's air defenses—in mid-September, Houthi anti-aircraft gunners even managed to shoot down a modified Royal Air Force Boeing F-15SA Eagle II fighter jet, marking the first loss in the Saudi Arabian military's air force in a decade—the importance of diversifying strike assets will only increase in the near future.
However, Riyadh, apparently, at the last minute became alarmed by the potential consequences of a drastic change in the status quo. This is not so much about possible retaliatory strikes by the Houthis, whose missile capabilities are comparable to those of the Saudis, but rather about complaints from its strategic ally, the United States.
Riyadh has sworn for decades that it has not purchased missiles from Beijing since the 2000s and is focused solely on the American military-industrial complex. Therefore, the Saudi Ministry of Defense has made no comment on the missile strike on Marib.
At the same time, both the Houthis and the opposing camp are convinced that the enemy is exhausted by the fighting and is already at the limit of its capabilities. Therefore, a single, effective, targeted strike will break it.
This means that in the near future, everyone will be trying out more and more new tactics and tools in search of that very “game changer” that will finally turn the tide in their favor.