DOMINANT ANGLE
Canada takes the view of a proxy war: the Canadian press presents the Sanaa offensive as a front in the confrontation with Iran, at the risk of the Red Sea.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Rachad al-Alimi promised Sunday, in a televised address, to pursue the offensive "until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia" (Globe and Mail).
- 02
The Houthis took control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait and about 150 km of coastline on the Red Sea last month, according to the Globe and Mail.
- 03
Ansarallah was designated as a terrorist entity in 2024, the National Post recalls.
ANALYSIS
Ottawa, October 5, 2026. In the Canadian press, the Yemeni offensive is first and foremost a regional front issue. The Globe and Mail reports that the Saudi-backed government announced on Sunday a "vast military campaign" to retake all areas held by the Houthis, who are supported by Iran. The President of the Presidential Council, Rachad al-Alimi, promised in a televised address to pursue the offensive "until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia." A military spokesman then called on the Houthis to lay down their arms.
The daily newspaper recalls that the Houthis, formally Ansar Allah, have held Sanaa and vast parts of the northwest, where the majority of the population lives, since 2014. They have resisted years of attacks by Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and their Western allies, and have modernized their arsenal with the help of Tehran. Last month, their surprise offensive captured the Bab el-Mandeb strait and some 150 km of coastline on the Red Sea in just a few weeks. This advance has opened, the newspaper writes, a new front in the American-Israeli war launched in February against Iran, whose responses have included the strangulation of oil traffic in the Strait of Ormuz.
On the same day, the Houthis claimed to have launched ballistic missiles and drones at Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais region, in retaliation for what they describe as 50 airstrikes and missile strikes by the coalition in 12 hours. The Globe notes the absence of immediate confirmation of these damages.
Mohamed Fahmy's column in the National Post takes the analysis further. For him, the war in Yemen "is no longer simply an internal conflict" but a dangerous proxy war between Houthi rebels supported by Iran and government forces supported by Riyadh. He wonders what will happen if Tehran fully mobilizes its allies: the Strait of Ormuz transported around 20% of the world's oil before the war, and Bab al-Mandab is an artery for around 12% of global maritime trade. He describes a Saudi Arabia "alone" in defending global trade.
The text also recalls a specifically Canadian fact: Canada designated Ansarallah as a terrorist entity in 2024, and the UN maintains a sanctions regime targeting Houthi leaders. This reminder inscribes the coverage in Ottawa's official position, more than in the follow-up to the human toll or the cut-off roads around Taiz.
