When the US and Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran in late February, Tehran’s allies in the Middle East jumped into the fray. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia fired rockets at Israel, while Shia militias in Iraq attacked US bases and diplomatic outposts. But the Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, mostly stayed on the sidelines.

Over the past few weeks, however, the Houthis have changed their tactics and have entered the conflict in full force. They led a rapid advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing a strategic port city and several islands that gave the militia control over the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital waterway for energy shipments and other global trade. Thanks to Donald Trump’s war, Iran and its allies now dominate the Middle East’s two major regional energy chokepoints: Bab al-Mandab and the strait of Hormuz.

And Trump’s misadventure in Iran has unleashed other unintended consequences: it has rekindled Yemen’s civil war, and a related years-long conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. In recent days, the Houthis have expanded their offensive beyond the Red Sea coastline, targeting two provinces in Yemen’s eastern region, which is home to the country’s largest oil and gas fields. Those areas, including the resource-rich Marib province, are under the control of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia. If the Houthis can capture those regions, it would be their biggest territorial advance in more than a decade.

The renewed fighting has displaced more than 100,000 people inside Yemen, and forced thousands of others to flee across the Red Sea into Djibouti. Even before the latest escalation, Yemen was facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly half the population – about 22 million people – needing relief aid and protection, according to the United Nations.

The Houthi-Saudi conflict will also........

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