Sanaa, Yemen – Inside Yasser’s cramped 3-by-3-metre (10-by-10ft) ice cream shop, three refrigerators are stacked with frozen goods.

The shop provides just enough for the 45-year-old to support his family of five and not have to rely on anyone else.

Disruptions to his business are not welcome. If prices go up or if people spend less, then he is at risk.

So when Yasser saw that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the city of Sanaa, where he lives, had involved themselves in the United States-Israeli war on Iran, he started getting worried about the consequences.

“The moment Israel begins its military response to the Houthis, we will lose the little comfort we have today. Fear, price hikes and fuel shortages will suffocate us. The end of the conflict is unpredictable,” Yasser said.

The Houthis claimed their first attack on Israel in support of Iran on March 28, pledging their strikes “will continue until the declared objectives are achieved”. But the strikes have been limited and have been intercepted by Israel, and the Houthis are yet to attack shipping in the Red Sea as they have done in the past.

But even with this limited entry into the war, fear among civilians in Sanaa has been palpable.

Israel struck Yemen repeatedly in 2024 and 2025, and the expectation is that those attacks will resume. Any attacks could also trigger displacement, fuel shortages and inflation.

That would signal a new chapter of suffering that would amplify Yemen’s already critical humanitarian situation.

United Nations reports indicated that the escalating conflict in the wider region already risks exacerbating Yemen’s dire economic situation. It could also trigger a resumption of large-scale armed conflict within Yemen and disrupt vital humanitarian and commercial supply chains.

‘Unsafe and defenceless’

Ammar Ahmed, 28, a taxi driver in Sanaa, still remembers the brutality of the Israel air strikes on Yemen, which the United States also participated in. The memory of that “horror”, he said, has never left him.

“A repeat of that horror is frankly my utmost worry,” Ammar said. “With the deafening explosion from the air strikes, you feel that no place is safe. We are exposed, unprotected and lack any warning systems that could alert us to incoming strikes.”

Once the Houthis, who took control of Sanaa in 2014, declared they had launched a “barrage of missiles” towards Israel at the end of March, Ammar began thinking about potentially relocating his wife and four children.

Rising food prices and fuel shortages will always be a concern, but for Ammar, his family’s safety is the most important priority.

“The Houthi involvement in the war is not a small matter,” Ammar said. “It will invite retaliation by Israel. We are defenceless.”

Ammar thinks that central Sanaa is particularly vulnerable to attacks because it houses vital state facilities and institutions.

“I feel the villages could be safer than the cities when Israel begins its military response to the Houthis,” he said.

After the first Houthi attack, a senior Israeli military official told media outlets that Israel had been prepared for such a strike since the war against Iran began on February 28.

“We will choose when and how to hit the Houthis, according to our considerations. They will pay the price,” the Israeli official said.

Apartment owners cautious

There is also another factor Yemenis in Sanaa are worried about: the prospect of their homes being targeted.

Abdulrahman has a two-storey building divided into apartments. His current concern is not so much about how much he can collect in rent but who he is renting to.

In previous Israeli and US attacks in Sanaa, Houthi members were often targeted in residential locations. Senior Houthi members are believed to now take precautions, including repeatedly changing their residences.

So now, when Abdulrahman gets an inquiry from a potential tenant, he has to be calculated.

“I prefer an ordinary citizen as a tenant rather than a well-known official,” Abdulrahman said. “If the latter is located by the Zionist [Israeli] intelligence and is on the list, I fear he would be taken out along with the building.”

In August, Israel assassinated Houthi Prime Minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi in an air strike in Sanaa along with “several” other ministers.

And on one day in September, Israeli strikes killed 35 people and injured dozens, including women and children.

“If Israeli intelligence confirms the existence of a particular wanted individual in a specific place, they would hit the place regardless of the number of civilians that may be killed. This is nerve-wracking,” Abdulrahman said.

Trust in God and leadership

Despite the worry among civilians about potential US-Israel attacks, Houthi supporters said they still back the group.

Mohammed Ali, a 26-year-old university graduate and resident of Sanaa, told Global News Insight the “might and callousness” of the US and Israel was obvious but he has faith in God and the Houthi leaders.

“I know that the US-Israel warplanes can strike anywhere and anytime. They can intimidate people and rob us of peace. However, that will not be an effective recipe for subjugating us. We have endured a decade of war, and our resistance path will not be abandoned,” Mohammed said, referring to Yemen’s decadelong war, which has pitted the Houthis against the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

He added: “At this tough time, we need to be armed with patience and resilience. This hardship will pass, no matter how long it remains. Our [Houthi] leadership knows what it does.”

In a speech broadcast on Thursday explaining why the Houthis had entered the war after a month on the sidelines, Houthi movement chief Abdel-Malik al-Houthi said staying out of the conflict was not a “smart” option.

Al-Houthi added: “The Zionist plan targets all of us, and the enemies talk about it every day. The enemies say that they are seeking to change the Middle East. …We will not stand idly by until the enemies achieve what they seek.”

Additional economic burdens

If Yemen becomes a new front in the widening conflict in the region, economists warned, the country’s already crippled economy would decline further.

Wafiq Saleh, a Yemeni economic researcher, told Global News Insight that Yemenis are paying a heavy price for recurring military battles and operations in the country, arguing that the Houthi involvement in the Iran war would be a “painful blow” to the living situation and economy.

“I believe that the Houthi group’s official entry into the conflict will worsen maritime navigation disruptions and turn the Bab al-Mandeb strait into a dangerous military zone,” he said, referring to the strait that marks the entry to the Red Sea, a vital international shipping route abutting Yemen. “We [Yemenis] cannot escape the consequences of this disruption.”

Saleh noted that the escalation will drive up prices for essential imports, including food, fuel and medicine, as shipping and insurance costs rise.

“Any military tensions in the sea off Yemen will also paralyse the fishing sector, which supports approximately 500,000 Yemenis,” he added. “The targeting of Houthi-controlled Hodeidah ports will disrupt the movement of goods and delay the delivery of humanitarian aid. Subsequently, the humanitarian crisis will deepen.”

Every night, Yasser returns home and stays glued to the news on television. With every Houthi operation against Israel, he feels Yemen is being drawn deeper into the conflict, and his worries grow.

“We are not prepared to cope with the consequences of joining this war. We are already exhausted by our own conflicts,” Yasser said.