[Salon] Ansar Allah Forces Launch Lightning Campaign to Change Region Calculus



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Ansar Allah Forces Launch Lightning Campaign to Change Region Calculus

SimpliciusSep 11, 2026

Yesterday, Yemen’s Ansar Allah succeeded in a shock capture of a large swath of territory previously held by Saudi-backed national forces. The Crown Prince MBS even begged Trump to intervene by striking the “rebels”, as reported by Axios, which Trump allegedly declined to do.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) called President Trump twice Thursday, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as the Iran-backed group closed in on a vital Red Sea chokepoint, two U.S. officials told Axios.

Trump declined, and U.S. officials stressed the administration has no plans to intervene directly against the Houthis for now.

This latest offensive has brought a sweeping firestorm over the Middle East particularly as it was coupled with an unprecedented strike on the Saudi Arabian East-West oil pipeline which was heralded as being the US and its allies’ key trump card in overcoming Iran’s blockade of Hormuz: 

Iran Observer@IranObserver0

⚡️BREAKING: The US has Confirmed that the Saudi East-West Oil Pipeline has been Damaged Pumping stations were struck by Projectiles originating from either Iraq or Yemen As a result, 7 Million Barrels of Oil Per Day cannot be Moved Pipelines are not a Viable Option to bypass …

1:48 PM · Sep 11, 2026 · 30.9K Views


30 Replies · 202 Reposts · 1.15K Likes

Images released reportedly show the pumping station of this pipeline which was struck: 

New images showing the damage caused by Houthi missile strikes on two pumping stations along Saudi Arabia’s East-West Oil Pipeline Al-Dhekraa and Al-Misbaah stations have been put offline. 

1:06 PM · Sep 11, 2026 · 6.84K Views


3 Replies · 29 Reposts · 242 Likes

Satellite footage of the pipeline hit:

For the record, everyone has assumed that it was the Houthis who hit the pipeline, but CNN reports that it may have been an Iraqi resistance group that was behind the job, while Al Jazeera reports that Saudi Arabia has likewise confirmed this. Reuters writes that an Iraqi commander was dismissed after it was “confirmed” the drones came from Iraq: 

CAIRO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - An Iraqi military commander was ‌dismissed early on Saturday after investigations confirmed the latest ⁠drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia originated from Iraq, according to a statement by Iraq’s ‌prime ⁠minister’s office.

The commander led operations in Maysan province ⁠in southern Iraq, according to the ⁠statement.

On the other hand, it may just be cope to downplay the latest Houthi successes, because as others have pointed out today, most MSM channels have for some reason been sweeping this pipeline strike under the rug. Reports now claim that the entire pipeline has been shutdown “as a precaution”, though for how long is not specified.

Faytuks Network@FaytuksNetwork

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia announces it has shut down the East-West pipeline as a precautionary measure, saying it was subjected to multiple attacks on Thursday. The attacks resulted in a number of injuries.

2:28 PM · Sep 11, 2026 · 23.5K Views


20 Replies · 151 Reposts · 615 Likes

The Wall Street Journal@WSJ

Breaking: Saudi Arabia shut down a crucial pipeline that allowed oil exports to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz, saying it had been attacked multiple times 

on.wsj.com

Saudi Arabia Shuts Down Pipeline That Was a Crucial Hormuz Bypass

3:42 PM · Sep 11, 2026 · 59.6K Views


28 Replies · 116 Reposts · 277 Likes

Recall how for months one of the prevalently discussed topics had been if Iran was capable of hitting this Saudi pipeline and effectively neutering the Kingdom’s ability to divert its oil and make Hormuz “redundant”, as Trump bragged would be the case. 

What we are now apparently seeing is a coordinated campaign by Iran to put the final stranglehold on US and its allies. It cannot be mere coincidence that days after Iran had launched its largest attack on US assets in months and announced the wide expansion of its own blockade of Hormuz, suddenly its Houthi proxies have moved in to deal a crippling blow to the US axis. 

The Houthis have now reportedly captured the entire critical Bab al Mandab strait area of the Red Sea, giving a total chokehold to Iran and its proxies over a massive chunk of global shipping: 

Granted, thus far Ansar Allah representatives have stated only Saudi Arabian ships will be blocked from passing Bab al Mandab:

Chief negotiator and spokesman Mohammed Abdusalam (Abdulsalam) stated: “There is no closure of Bab al-Mandab as some are suggesting… [the position] is limited to a maritime blockade that only affects the Saudi side.”

The main blow came by way of the capture of the key Red Sea port of Mocha overlooking the strait, just as oil surged to $105 per barrel and US diesel prices hit a high of $6 for the first time in history:

Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized the Yemeni Red Sea port of Mocha as they advance south towards the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a vital waterway for international maritime trade.

The capture of Mocha deals a significant blow to Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni forces it backs, and is a boost to Iran as it seeks to maintain pressure on global energy prices.

It’s clear to see that the Iranian axis is putting a stranglehold on the entire region for which no one has any answers. That is because Iranian forces use the asymmetry of hybrid warfare tactics which perfectly complement their enemies’ strengths and capabilities. There is nothing easier to hit than huge lumbering ships in a tiny narrow corridor of water for a nation whose immeasurable strength is low-cost drones, missiles, and other surveillance tech, and which has a multitude of disposable proxy and partisan forces pullulating throughout the region. 

The US and its allies like Saudi Arabia have now spent decades putting all their money and hopes into super high-tech and prestige-level systems which are out of their depths against the new low-cost methods of warfare that have come of age in our neo-industrial revolution era of hyper-globalist off-shored manufacturing, parts and CPU sourcing, et cetera. Western corporations had democratized commodities and industrial production to milk and bilk profits, and this has allowed the entire “developing” global south access to mainstreamed off-the-shelf tech that can be mass-produced in workshops for cheap and used to counter any of the lumbering “prestige” systems used by Western MIC cutouts to pork their stock portfolios. 

Just twig the latest news that Houthis reportedly used Anthropic’s Claude AI to vibe code their own advanced missile tech:

Houthis Used Claude Code to Develop Missile Guidance Software: Anthropic Anthropic says operators in northern Yemen ran parallel Claude Code instances to design guidance software, simulate trajectories, and analyze a failed rocket test.

clashreport.com

Houthis Used Claude Code to Develop Missile Guidance Software: Anthropic · Clash Report

9:49 AM · Sep 11, 2026 · 15.2K Views


9 Replies · 32 Reposts · 130 Likes

The West wanted a global sweat shop, instead it got an armed proletarian revolution.

In an interview with Ryan Morgan of Epoch Times, US Navy Secretary Hung Cao made a shocking admission:

U.S. Navy Secretary Hung Cao in an interview:

‘The Iranians blew the hell out of Bahrain. There is no place for the U.S. Navy to dock. We have a task force looking at whether to abandon the facility [NSA Bahrain].’

Well…

In the last piece we reported on Iran’s latest September 9 strikes on US’s Jordan base, now major outlets have confirmed that a slew of US aircraft were in fact damaged in the attacks: 

From the CBS piece above:

One A-10 Thunderbolt, an attack aircraft known as the Warthog, was struck and lost a wing, the sources said.

Roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were put back into service, according to the people familiar with the damage, who spoke to CBS News under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

A whopping eight F-15s were hit, though they claim they were already repaired, which is highly unlikely and suspicious. We know for a fact that more craft were damaged than they’re admitting to because photos of damaged helicopters being trucked out had already leaked. 

Trump has continued doubling down on his sunk cost fallacy by claiming that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were such a threat to the world. Here he jokes that if Iran had nukes, he would have had to kneel and suck-up to the Ayatollah like a sycophant: 

Has there been a greater incentive for Iran—or any nation for that matter—to acquire nukes than the above video? Who wouldn’t want to have such reliable deterrence from the world’s most predatory nations? 

Now it’s clear Iran and its forces are gaining critical leverage and strategic initiative over the region. Even as of this writing Iran has launched a new attack on ships trying to cross using Trump’s ‘golden’ smuggling route in the Omani territorial waters. We can only assume that total lockdown of Bab al Mandab is being saved for the final escalatory coup de grace, should it be necessary. You don’t want to play all your best cards early, and for the moment Iran does not have the urgency of needing its final armageddon card. Simply having its proxies in fire-control position to enact a blockade at any moment sends a good enough message of deterrence on its own. 

Trump has now signaled that he believes the war will end “after the midterms”. More so this seems to signal that Trump could be trying to keep the war on a low-burn, without sparking any major ignitions until the midterms are over in order to keep the scandalous nature of the debacle from ruining the Republicans’ chances at staying in power. After the midterms, Trump likely feels he can resume playing greater “hardball” with Iran once more, particularly given that the US will have replenished some of its stocks, given carrier group crews some needed R&R, and perhaps—in Trump’s hopeful mind—regained some needed political capital with a midterms win that could boost Trump’s mandate and put wind in his sails for more forceful action. 

This is why the current prevailing narrative now revolves around fears that the war will last to the end of his term and beyond. (But, hey, at least it’s not as long as WWII or Vietnam!…at least not yet.)

As of the latest, Ansar Allah have closed in on the key city of Marib and are threatening to capture it, as collapsing Saudi-backed forces begin to hastily retreat:

Iran Observer@IranObserver0

⚡️BREAKING: Yemen's Ansarullah (Houthi) have launched Offensive Operations in the Oil-Rich Marib Governorate Fierce Clashes are taking place at the Moment If Marib falls to the Houthis, they will hold Yemen's Vital Energy Hub in their Hands 

4:12 PM · Sep 11, 2026 · 54.2K Views


49 Replies · 617 Reposts · 3.16K Likes

Large convoys of Saudi-backed forces in Yemen, are preparing to evacuate from Marib city towards Hadramawt. -Source

It appears Iran has come one step closer to a checkmate shāh māt, as the Persian passed pawns close in on the final promotion rank in full view of the enemy’s quivering king, trapped in his H1 corner. 

Will the defeated foe swallow his pride and offer a draw to save face, or continue digging down to face an ignoble end via discovered mate?

Knowing the Orange King’s predispositions, the more likely outcome follows along the famous Pigeon Proverb:

Sounds familiar, no?


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