A two-week lull in attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels have ended with the resumption of missile strikes targeting Red Sea ships linked to Israel, the United States or nations supporting the international anti-Houthi naval coalition in those waters.
The attacks, which the Houthis have been carrying out since November 2023, are a bid to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
However, while the Iran-backed group has not managed to influence the course of the war between Israel and Hamas, its ongoing attacks have increased the group's popularity to an unprecedented level.
And now, some five months into the attacks, the Houthis are starting to leverage this power boost across Yemen.
Yemen is split into Houthi-controlled areas in the north and west, with its capital Sanaa, and areas under the control of Yemen's internationally recognized Presidential Council, which has its capital in Aden.
The two de facto governments are the result of a civil war that began in 2014 when the Houthis overthrew the Yemeni government.
A year later, the conflict escalated further when a Saudi Arabia-led international coalition came to the aid of the internationally recognized government.
Years of war have killed hundreds of thousands of people and have led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the United........