Red Sea security tracker
What is happening in the Red Sea?
Red Sea security and Houthi attacks: Yemen's war and the shipping crisis, key actors, a sourced timeline, what to watch, and monthly conflict data.
This tracker uses a fixed four-country boundary around the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb. It provides country-level humanitarian conflict context; maritime warnings and vessel disruptions remain separate live signals on the chokepoint pages and dashboard.
Shipping status: is the Bab el-Mandeb open? · is the Suez Canal open? Live disruption score and IMF PortWatch daily transits.
Latest maintained month
Country conflict pulse
Metrics are country-level records for the latest available HAPI/HDX reference month. Missing countries are unavailable, not zero. A combined total is withheld when reference periods differ.
- Yemen
1,916 events · 3,412 fatalities · 2026-10-01 - Saudi Arabia
25 events · 26 fatalities · 2026-10-01 - Djibouti
0 events · 0 fatalities · 2026-10-01 - Eritrea
0 events · 0 fatalities · 2026-10-01
Maintained month snapshot
This page records the committed 2026-10-01 HAPI/HDX country summaries published November 2, 2026. JavaScript can refresh newer values; the numbers above remain available without it.
Source: SUZU Monitor weekly pulse snapshot, November 2, 2026. Combined totals are withheld when covered countries report different reference months.
Background
Yemen's war predates the shipping crisis. UN News says government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition have fought the Houthis (Ansar Allah) since 2014, with the recognised authorities based largely in Aden and the Houthis holding Sana'a and much of the north and west. A UN-brokered truce took effect on 2 April 2022, halting offensive operations inside Yemen and across its borders. OCHA's 2026 plan counts more than 22 million people in need, including 5.2 million internally displaced. Sources: UN News (1, 2), UN Yemen.
The maritime campaign began after the Gaza war. Al Jazeera reports the Houthis launched attacks in October 2023 in support of Palestinians; on 19 November 2023 armed men rappelled from a helicopter onto the car carrier Galaxy Leader near Hodeidah, NBC News reported. After nearly two months of daily US strikes, Oman announced a US-Houthi ceasefire on 6 May 2025 covering the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab. In July 2025 the Eternity C sank after Houthi attacks that killed at least three crew, AP reported. Sources: Al Jazeera, NBC News, Yahoo News.
Reuters reported in July 2026 that the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and fired on Aramco sites in Jizan and Yanbu as the 2022 ceasefire broke down, effectively joining, in Reuters' words, the wider war with Iran. By 10 September UN envoy Hans Grundberg said the Houthis controlled Mokha near Bab al-Mandeb, and Djibouti counted about 3,400 boat arrivals within days, Al Jazeera reported. On 9 October Grundberg said Yemen 'has slid back into full-scale war'; a 10 October strike on Riyadh's airport killed 12 people, Saudi authorities said. Sources: gCaptain, UN Special Envoy for Yemen (1, 2, 3), Al Jazeera.
Key actors
Timeline
What to watch
Background, actors, timeline and watch list last reviewed against the linked sources. They are context for the monthly figures above, not part of the HAPI/HDX dataset.
Country readings
2 of the 4 covered countries have a Country Instability Index reading. The highest is Yemen at 89 (Critical), and the lowest is Saudi Arabia at 63 (Elevated). Instability is a live 0-100 stress score; resilience is a structural 0-100 index ranked across countries. Both describe each country as a whole, not this crisis alone, and a country without a reading reflects index coverage, not a statement about risk.
| Country | Instability (CII) | CII movement | Resilience score | Resilience rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yemen | 89 (Critical) | Falling -1 | 31.2 / 100 | #166 of 169 |
| Saudi Arabia | 63 (Elevated) | Falling -1 | 56.7 / 100 | #60 of 169 |
| Djibouti | Not monitored | — | 42.9 / 100 | #135 of 169 |
| Eritrea | Not monitored | — | Not ranked | — |
Sources: Country Instability Index published pulse and the country resilience index snapshot used on each country page.
Coverage boundary
Yemen (YE), Saudi Arabia (SA), Djibouti (DJ), Eritrea (ER). Events outside this list are not included in the live totals on this page.
Live data
How to read this tracker
Use these monthly country summaries as a bounded pulse, then inspect the dashboard for event-level context, map layers, and other independent signals. The figures are not forecasts and should not be interpreted as a complete casualty or incident ledger. SUZU Monitor's forecasts are graded separately, and that record is published on the forecast accuracy scorecard.
Questions about the Red Sea security
What is happening in the Red Sea?
Reuters reported in July 2026 that the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and fired on Aramco sites in Jizan and Yanbu as the 2022 ceasefire broke down, effectively joining, in Reuters' words, the wider war with Iran. By 10 September UN envoy Hans Grundberg said the Houthis controlled Mokha near Bab al-Mandeb, and Djibouti counted about 3,400 boat arrivals within days, Al Jazeera reported. On 9 October Grundberg said Yemen 'has slid back into full-scale war'; a 10 October strike on Riyadh's airport killed 12 people, Saudi authorities said. Last reviewed October 24, 2026 against the linked sources.
What did the last published monthly figures show for the Red Sea security?
In SUZU Monitor's weekly snapshot published November 2, 2026, HAPI/HDX humanitarian conflict summaries record 1,941 conflict events and 3,438 fatalities across Djibouti, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen for the reference period starting October 1, 2026. These are monthly country-level summaries, not a complete casualty or incident ledger; the figures above may refresh to a newer month.
Which countries does the Red Sea security tracker cover?
Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Eritrea. Events outside these countries are not included in the totals on this page.
Download: tracker.json. Scope source: SUZU Monitor crisis registry. Maintained metrics: HAPI/HDX humanitarian conflict summaries from the UN OCHA Humanitarian API.
How SUZU Monitor compares: SUZU Monitor vs Liveuamap · SUZU Monitor vs Deep State Map.