A live map of the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and Yemen: reported attacks on shipping, launches from Houthi-held territory, strikes on Houthi targets and changes on Yemen's front lines.
▶ Open the full interactive map
Yemen's Saudi-backed government, led by President Rashad al-Alimi, announced a full-scale military offensive to retake Houthi-controlled territory and restore nationwide government authority. The operation explicitly prohibits tribalism and sectarian violence. Concurrent with this announcement, Houthi forces expanded territorial control in Ta'izz Governorate by approximately 161 square kilometers and seized the residence of Yemen's Parliament Speaker in Al-Hawban following armed clashes. A tanker reported multiple explosions approximately 60 nautical miles south of Al Mukha in the Red Sea with crew safely evacuated. These developments underscore the Yemen conflict's persistence despite years of Saudi-led intervention, with control of key infrastructure and maritime routes remaining contested.
The United States signaled de-escalation regarding potential Iran contingency operations by withdrawing B-1B Lancer strategic bombers from RAF Fairford in the UK. However, Washington continues providing intelligence and targeting assistance to Saudi-led anti-Houthi operations while declining direct kinetic involvement, reportedly viewing the conflict as a distraction from broader Iran concerns. U.S. officials stated America would only assist if Saudi military operations faced critical difficulties. Meanwhile, reported explosions occurred in the Strait of Hormuz near Qeshm Island following Iranian fire directed at vessels allegedly breaching Iran's maritime blockade, consistent with earlier patterns. A C-130 cargo aircraft with disabled transponder landed in Tehran, reportedly suggesting covert military or strategic logistics operations.
Read the full brief · Brief archive
Changes are measured by comparing successive versions of the source maps; areas are approximate.
This is the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and Yemen view of Intel Mapper, a live open-source-intelligence (OSINT) map. It tracks reported attacks on merchant ships, missile and drone launches from Houthi-held Yemen, strikes on Houthi targets, and the ground war between the Houthis (Ansar Allah) and the forces of Yemen's internationally recognised government and its allies. Every marker is one dated, geolocated event.
In November 2023 the Houthis began attacking commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with anti-ship missiles, drones and small boats, declaring the campaign a response to the war in Gaza. The route runs through Bab al-Mandab, the strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa that is about 30 km wide at its narrowest, and on to the Suez Canal. It normally carries a large share of the trade between Asia and Europe. Many shipping lines diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, which adds roughly one to two weeks to a voyage.
Maritime reports usually give a position as a distance and bearing from a port, for example "60 nautical miles south of Al Mukha". The map converts that into a point at sea and checks that a sea event is not drawn on land, or a land event in the water. Where a report names the vessel, its type and flag are kept in the event summary, and repeated reports of the same incident are merged into one marker with a higher source count.
Control areas in Yemen are built from the Wikipedia map of the conflict and re-rendered twice a day, covering the fronts around Taiz, Marib, Hodeidah and the west coast. The Recent changes layer hatches every area that changed hands in the last seven days and names the nearest settlement, and small redraws of the source map that are not real changes are filtered out.
Each event carries a source count and a confidence score out of 10. Claims by the Houthis, by the Yemeni government, by coalition states and by shipping sources often disagree about what was hit and how badly, so statements are attributed to whoever made them, single-source claims are labelled, and uncertain locations are drawn with an orange ring instead of a precise pin. Markers are corrected or merged as better information arrives. The methodology page explains how reports are checked, and the explainer on how analysts monitor attacks on shipping gives more background.
Open the full map to switch on control zones and the recent-changes layer, to tap any marker for its source text and media, and to move the time slider back and replay earlier days. The wider regional picture is on the Middle East conflict map.
Yes. Reported attacks on merchant vessels and warships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden are placed at the reported position at sea, with the number of sources that carried the report.
Bab al-Mandab is the strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, about 30 km wide at its narrowest. Ships sailing between Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal pass through it, which makes it one of the main chokepoints of world trade.
The control layer shows areas held by the Houthis and by the internationally recognised government and its allies, built from the Wikipedia map of the conflict and refreshed twice a day.
Events are added within minutes of being reported, around the clock. Control areas are refreshed twice a day.
Intel Mapper aggregates open-source reports from monitored Telegram and X channels, geolocates them, cross-checks duplicates across sources and assigns a confidence score. Entries are updated as new confirmations arrive.