Click to see full-size image. (Sgt. Harley Jelis/Army National Guard)
Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced late on October 17 that they shot down a Saudi AH-64 Apache attack helicopter near the border with the kingdom’s southern province of Najran.
In a statement, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the movement’s military spokesman, said the American-made helicopter had been targeting Houthi positions along the border.
“Our armed forces, with the help and grace of God, managed to shoot down an Apache belonging to the Saudi enemy opposite Najran while it was carrying out hostile actions against our forces’ positions along the border,” Saree said. “It was shot down with a suitable weapon.”
The Houthis operate a range of air defense systems, from man-portable weapons to interceptors and medium-range surface-to-air missiles.
The Apache is Saudi Arabia’s principal attack helicopter, with a modernized AH-64E estimated to cost about $52 million per helicopter according to recent U.S. Army procurement figures.
Open-source inventories list 22 Apaches with the Royal Saudi Land Forces and 12 others with the Saudi Arabian National Guard.
The announcement came just days after the Houthis said they had struck a Saudi Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet over Yemen’s Saada province. The group later released footage showing a missile hitting the jet during flight, supporting its claim.
Including the latest claim, the Houthis have announced 18 shootdowns since the start of the ongoing confrontation with Saudi Arabia. Aside from an American-made F-15SA fighter jet, all other warplanes shot down by the Houthis were combat drones.
Iran has provided Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) with weapons, targeting intelligence and military training that have helped the group carry out increasingly sophisticated attacks against Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on October 17.
The assistance includes intelligence for selecting targets for drone and missile strikes, tactical guidance and training, according to the report, which cited people briefed on intelligence from Saudi Arabia and the anti-Houthi alliance in Yemen.
Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officers have also deployed inside Yemen, helping direct military operations, the report said.
Iran has supplied weapons to the Houthis through traditional dhow boats, resorting to submarines when maritime shipments were disrupted by U.S. and Israeli strikes, the Journal revealed, citing European and Houthi officials.
The report also described an alleged weapons shipment in July aboard two flights operated by Mahan Air, an Iranian airline under U.S. sanctions.
The flights were ostensibly transporting Yemeni pilgrims and Houthi officials to Tehran for the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. However, they also carried Iranian paramilitary officers and weapons-related cargo, including drone components, missile guidance systems and impact detonators, according to people familiar with intelligence from Saudi Arabia and the anti-Houthi alliance.
The discovery prompted Saudi-aligned forces to bomb the runway at Sanaa airport in an attempt to stop the second flight, setting off the latest escalation in the conflict.
Iranian officers have also helped the Houthis deploy missiles and radars at positions threatening the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to the Journal.
The group’s offensive, which accelerated in September, combined large-scale infantry assaults with missile and drone attacks, enabling it to capture the Red Sea port city of Mokha and seize territory around the Bab al-Mandeb.
The group’s increasingly sophisticated tactics, including the use of first-person-view drones guided by fiber-optic cables, indicated that its fighters had received training from Iran, according to a person associated with forces fighting the Houthis.
Another official from the anti-Houthi alliance told the Journal that IRGC officers had been present on the front lines directing drone and missile attacks.
The Houthis have also intensified attacks against Saudi targets, including oil tankers, energy facilities and airports. One strike in Riyadh last weekend killed at least 13 people, according to the report.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official who said he was aboard the second Mahan Air flight, rejected the allegations concerning Iranian officers and weapons, calling them an exaggeration intended to justify the attack on Sanaa airport. He also said claims of Iranian assistance overlooked the group’s own advances in developing its military capabilities.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said last month that Tehran did not interfere in Yemeni affairs and described the Houthis as independent actors pursuing their own interests.
The Journal also acknowledged in its report that the Houthis manufacture some of their own weapons and have obtained components for drones and missiles directly from China, underscoring that their military capabilities do not rely exclusively on Iranian supplies.
The latest allegations may be an attempt to drag Saudi Arabia into a direct confrontation with Iran, amid reports suggesting the United States and Israel could resume war against the Islamic Republic before the end of the year.
The Yemeni army (Ansar Allah) fired at least two ballistic missiles at Saudi positions at Badr base near Aden Airport, killing at least six Saudi personnel;
The Yemeni army’s (Ansar Allah) missile and artillery strikes thwarted a planned Saudi-backed offensive, killing more than 90 fighters and wounding dozens.
The Houthis (Ansar Allah) fired at least two missiles toward a military facility next to Aden International Airport on October 16, saying the attack targeted a Saudi-led coalition command center and weapons depots at Badr military camp.
Aden’s security department said the missiles struck airport grounds without causing casualties. Meanwhile, Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said they landed about 500 meters from a Yemenia Airways passenger jet preparing to depart for Cairo. Passengers were evacuated, according to a security official.
The strike came a day after the Houthis attacked the al-Maashiq presidential palace, the headquarters of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in Aden.
Yemen’s Health Minister Qasem Buhaibeh said five people were killed and 16 wounded. AFP reported, citing an unnamed Yemeni minister, that Saudi and Yemeni personnel were among the casualties, although no Saudi-specific death toll was disclosed.
The successive attacks have brought mounting pressure on Aden, the interim capital and a key center for the Saudi-backed government.
The Houthis have intensified their military campaign while expanding their territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and tightening their grip around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, a major shipping passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
At the same time, the group also tightened its siege of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, cutting the city’s main southern road to Aden.
Capturing Taiz would give the group control over another major urban center in southwestern Yemen and could help consolidate its position around the Bab al-Mandab approaches.
The growing frequency of Houthi strikes on Aden may be part of a broader campaign of shaping operations intended to disrupt Saudi-led coalition command-and-control structures ahead of a possible large-scale offensive to capture the port city.
The front changes faster than any headquarters, so Ukraine’s war chief went to the people who fight on it. On 16 October, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara met commanders and soldiers from front-line units to discuss the needs of the front, command practices that save lives, and ways to raise combat effectiveness, the Defense Ministry reported.
The front keeps changing, with technology, tactics and weapons shifting constantly, so decisions made far from it risk arriving late and costing lives. Khmara’s answer is to anchor ministry policy in the experience of the soldiers who fight, a continuation of the “machines over men” program.
"The front does not stand still. But the key thing is people. People will always be the foundation and the main value of the Defense Forces,” Khmara said.
He claimed that the decisions of the Ministry of Defense must take into account the experience of warriors, those who directly carry out combat missions at the front.
Ukraine's most battle-hardened brigades say their word
The meeting drew commanders from across the force, including the Airborne Assault Forces, the Marine Corps, the 93rd, 100th, 28th and 155th mechanized brigades, the 1st, 425th and 475th assault regiments, the 3rd and 59th assault brigades, and Azov.
The last one, the 1st Azov Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine, is actively fighting in the Donbas region, where units have led counter-operations to disrupt Russian advances toward fortress cities that have been holding Russia's operation since 2014.
Meanwhile, the 93rd "Kholodnyi Yar" Separate Mechanized Brigade took part in fierce battles for Ilovaisk, the Donetsk Airport, Debaltseve, and Bakhmut, as well as in the liberation of the Kharkiv Oblast. Both units are known for their extensive implementation of advanced military technologies, including ground robotic complexes, FPV strike drones, and innovative anti-drone electronic warfare systems.
Command tricks that keep soldiers alive
The talk turned on how good commanders cut their own losses. Participants discussed command approaches that help save soldiers’ lives, use resources efficiently, and achieve combat results.
The ministry wants those methods studied and spread to other units, treating commanders' hard-won judgment as something to scale rather than leave in one brigade.
One goal: fewer Ukrainian losses, more Russian ones
Khmara framed the task in plain terms.
“We must adapt faster and give our warriors modern and effective tools,” he stressed, calling it the shared job of the Defense Ministry, the commander-in-chief and the General Staff.
Illustrative image. (Egyptian Ministry of Defense)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on October 17 called for an emergency parliamentary session to authorize a possible Egyptian intervention to defend Saudi Arabia if requested by the kingdom.
“I call on parliament to convene an emergency session to authorize us to take action to intervene in defense of Saudi Arabia, if we are asked to do so,” El-Sisi said at a graduation ceremony for military academy and college cadets.
“This move and this defense require approval from the Egyptian parliament,” he noted, stressing that Egypt was not seeking to join the war against Yemen’s Houthis.
“I am not speaking about attacking or waging war. We are seeking only to defend,” the Egyptian president added.
Egypt is the latest country to publicly signal support for Saudi Arabia as the kingdom faces escalating missile and drone attacks by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen.
El-Sisi said Cairo would take the necessary measures to protect Saudi Arabia, adding that it was “absolutely unacceptable” for the kingdom’s security and stability to be undermined.
Saudi Arabia has secured defensive military support from Pakistan and Turkey through the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, which the three countries agreed to activate on October 5. More recently, the kingdom also received defensive support from the United Kingdom and France.
The United States, for its part, has been providing more substantial military support to Saudi Arabia, including intelligence sharing, operational planning and assistance identifying Houthi targets, as well as weapons and air defense systems.
Still, Riyadh has so far failed to secure a publicly announced commitment from its allies to directly join its offensive against the Houthis inside Yemen.
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to re-enter the Yemen conflict by resuming payments to some government forces fighting Iran-aligned Houthis in the south, according to sources in Yemen. In return, Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide air cover for the anti-Houthi force.
After 20 years of balancing her corporate leadership roles with motherhood, Trisha Daab was ready for a break.
"Life had felt like sprinting a marathon for as long as I could remember," Daab, 47, told Business Insider. "I had no idea how tired I was until I stopped working."
In her year off, she tap danced, volunteered at a food bank, traveled to Disneyland and Alaska, and spent more time with her kids. By the end, she had decided she couldn't go back to her old life.
"My job often demanded that it came first — never-ending to-do lists, urgent emails, travel, and always chasing the next promotion," Daab, who's now a travel writer and substitute teacher, said. "Stepping away helped me realize my priorities had shifted."
Trisha Daab took a year off from her corporate role, then pivoted to jobs that allow for more work-life balance.
Courtesy of Trisha Daab
Now in their 30s and 40s, many millennial women are skeptical of corporate and instead becoming business owners, content creators, and mothers, prioritizing more flexible work schedules. Instead of striving to get to the top, they're inverting Sheryl Sandberg's mantra of the 2010s — and leaning out.
Sandberg, Meta's former COO, told Business Insider that the corporate exodus is due to women feeling undervalued at work.
"This is not the women who are saying, 'I don't want to do it,'" Sandberg, 57, said. "It's the women saying, 'I don't want to do it because I'm not wanted, I'm not getting the same opportunities and the same support, and I face an unfair burden at home.'"
Even Lean In, the organization founded by Sandberg and named after her 2013 bestselling book, is noticing a recent shift in women's ambitions in the workforce.
Sheryl Sandberg coined the phrase "lean in" in 2013, encouraging women to pursue more leadership roles.
Bloomberg/Getty Images
According to the organization's 2025 Women in the Workplace report, published in December 2025, which surveyed 9,500 US employees across 124 organizations, women were less likely to say they wanted a promotion compared to men. This was true when filtered to include only millennials, who made up roughly one-third of participants.
When asked why, over 28% of millennial women said "personal obligations" made it hard for them to take on more — compared to 17% of millennial men.
Annie Wright, a licensed psychotherapist who works with Silicon Valley leaders, has also observed more of her millennial female patients shifting their ideas about what constitutes a fulfilling career.
"I'm watching them make more person-centered choices than necessarily career-only-driven choices," she told Business Insider. "I don't think many millennial women are becoming less ambitious. I think they're just becoming less willing to confuse ambition with self-erasure."
The rise and fall of the have-it-all girlboss
The Wing cofounder Audrey Gelman and Jennifer Lawrence speak at an event at The Wing in 2018.
Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Wing
Let's, for a moment, remember what is now referred to as the "girlboss era" of the 2010s.
It was a time of She-E-O-led startups, of crushed velvet sofas and the words "I Want It All" aglow in cursive neon lettering. Of earnest enjoyment of "Fight Song" and T-shirts with earnest phrases like "feminist" and "woman up."
Of a future that was female, tinged millennial pink — until a series of public reckonings punctured the fantasy. Leaders of several companies stepped down amid allegations of toxic workplace cultures, exposing the facade of the girlboss promise.
Then came the remote work culture of 2020. Suddenly, many women had time to breathe, whether that meant not rushing to day care pickup, having more time to work out or see friends, or simply not being "on" all the time.
For some, the slowly creeping requirement to return to the office dealt the final blow.
Misty Heggeness, a professor at the University of Kansas specializing in gender economics, described the influx of new RTO policies by some companies as having a "chilling effect."
"That does disproportionately disadvantage women in general," Heggeness told Business Insider, "just because women are more likely to carry an invisible load of work within families."
The working mom paradox
Kendra Rothermel, 34, started her own business to have more flexibility as a working mom of three.
Courtesy of Kendra Rothermel
After the birth of her first child, Kendra Rothermel switched from full-time to part-time work as an office manager while her husband remained at his full-time job. "As we grew our family, it made sense for me to have a more flexible schedule," Rothermel, 34, told Business Insider.
When she had her third baby, his clubfoot diagnosis meant frequent orthopedic appointments. Even part-time work wasn't flexible enough, so she eventually started her own venture helping small businesses with operations and marketing.
Rothermel said she was partly inspired by watching other working moms do the same.
A recent analysis of job-market data by Matthew Nestler, a senior economist at KPMG, found that labor force participation between December 2023 and May 2026 decreased among college-educated women with children under 5. Meanwhile, participation increased for women without children and most groups of men, including fathers.
Because millennials are generally having kids later than previous generations did, Heggeness said parents, moms in particular, are more likely to be parenting young children just as their work responsibilities are ramping up.
"If they were going to lean out, now would be the time," she said, whether it's to save on childcare costs or introduce more flexibility.
Working moms want more flexibility, right as more companies have been instituting RTO mandates.
Natalia Lebedinskaia/Getty Images
Add to the list aging parents. The costs of childcare and eldercare, sometimes unaffordable even with the intense work commitments required to afford them, have prompted some women to leave their full-time jobs for more flexible or minimum-wage work.
To Sandberg, it's a sign that companies are not adequately adjusting to meet women where they are, whether that's offering more flexible hours, longer parental or bereavement leave options, or better healthcare coverage.
"We're at a critical moment in time for women, because what a lot of women are seeing is that commitment to them in leadership pulling back," Sandberg said. "Then what's happening to them is their ambition is pulling back. And that's a loss. It's a loss for our economy. It's a loss for our companies. It's a loss for our children."
The allure of going at it alone
Heigi Jeong left her full-time tech role to pursue content creation and write a book.
Courtesy of Heigi Jeong
Not all women who are leaning out are doing so because they are overworked. Some, like Heigi Jeong, 30, have dreams beyond corporate America.
"While I wouldn't say I loved the work, I liked it," Jeong, who made $173,000 working in product design, told Business Insider. "It was my dream job as an immigrant, and it was sustainable."
Still, Jeong was pulled toward her other ambitions: writing a book and being a content creator. She was also intrigued by the idea of being her own boss.
"When I'm working for myself, I entirely choose the role I will play," Jeong said. "I wanted to experience it myself and have my own take rather than constantly wondering 'What if I quit?'"
Three months after quitting, she enjoys not feeling as rushed as she used to, even if the price is an inconsistent income.
Both Heggeness and Wright have noted a growing interest in entrepreneurship and self-employment among women. A 2024 Census working paper found that the share of women business owners under 45 rose between 2012 and 2020, with the biggest increase among women ages 25 to 34. It also found that newer women-owned employer businesses were disproportionately owned by women under 35.
Some women are pursuing full-time content creation due to more flexible hours and, sometimes, better pay.
Luis Alvarez/Getty Images
The creator economy opened another path. More than 200 million people worldwide now identify as content creators, though that broad figure includes far more than full-time influencers. Some Gen Z and millennial consultants are even leaving MBB and Big Four firms to build audiences and businesses online — trading the girlboss crown for a bubble headband.
In a 2023 Vogue article, writer Daisy Jones wrote that the newest iteration of girlboss swaps grind culture with the similarly perfectionistic "soft life" defined by travel and lucrative brand deals. Pantsuits were exchanged for sweatpants; speaking engagements and spread-thin multitasking gave way to self-care and supplement stacks.
"In some ways, the career woman appears to have been replaced by the health-conscious woman," Jones wrote, "the one who prioritizes her vitamin intake, hydration, and sleep cycle over endless meetings and salary increases."
Content creation doesn't come without its own costs. Plenty of influencers report feeling financially insecure or overworked, unable to take a day off without losing money.
Still, if they're going to burn out or worry about their job security, some figure they might as well enjoy their autonomy to create their own schedules.
"For some women, there's been a paradigm shift in values," Wright said. "Promotion or success now looks like more availability, presence, and freedom."
When everyone leans out
If women keep leaving corporate leadership roles, it leaves fewer women in charge to fight for those corporate roles to be more flexible.
Petri Oeschger/Getty Images
Sandberg, who herself stepped down as Meta's COO in 2022 to pursue philanthropy and early-stage investing ventures, said she supports women's career choices, whatever they may be.
"I think being at home with your children is great," she said. "Going back to school, great. Starting a company, great. Going part-time, great. Anything you want to do is great."
Part of the issue, she said, is that without female leaders, there are simply fewer people to advocate for the very policies that make other women more excited to move up in a company, be it egg-freezing coverage, lactation rooms, or more competitive maternity leave options.
It's why she feels companies need to do more work to assess why women are leaning out enough to jump ship entirely. "It's easy to overly characterize the words 'lean in,'" she said. "What I mean by them is very clear: I think women should make decisions based on believing in their own abilities, based on believing that they should and can have the same opportunities as men."
It's just a shame, she continued, if the decision stems from not feeling valued enough in the corporate world.
"I just hope that enough women want those senior leadership roles," she said, "that we get the environment for women that they deserve."
The Houthis are preparing to march on Riyadh while the Revolutionary Guards are driving America out of every continent. America’s security umbrella has failed to provide the Gulf petro-monarchies with the much-touted security against Iran and the axis of resistance. Instead, it has made them more susceptible to the realization of the “Pax Judaica,” or […]
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Dois projéteis atingiram uma área militar do aeroporto da cidade portuária de Aden. Os rebeldes houthis reivindicaram o ataque. Não há registo de vítimas.
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