Direct proof of use
The C-801 appears in the 2014 Yemen Civil War through inherited Yemeni Navy stocks that passed into Houthi hands and through C-801/C-802-family anti-ship attacks near Yemen's Red Sea coast. CSIS reports that Yemen procured 25 C-801 anti-ship missiles from China in 1995, that additional C-801 missiles were acquired for the Yemeni Navy in 2006 or 2007, and that several C-801 missiles fell into Houthi hands in 2015 after three Yemeni Navy Type 021 missile boats defected.
For combat employment, CSIS identifies the October 2016 maritime engagements around Bab el-Mandab as Houthi use of radar-guided C-801 or C-802 anti-ship missiles fired from the coastline. The same report states that the first maritime shot came on October 1, 2016, when Houthi fighters fired a ground-based anti-ship missile at HSV-2 Swift, and it groups the later USS Mason incidents with Houthi C-801/802 attacks near Yemen's coast.
Sources: The Missile War in Yemen
Timeline
The documented chain begins before the civil war, with Chinese C-801 deliveries to Yemen in 1995 and later Yemeni Navy acquisition reported by a UN panel. In 2015, as the war widened after the Houthi takeover and Saudi-led coalition intervention, several C-801 missiles passed to Houthi-aligned forces with defecting Type 021 missile boats.
The main operational evidence comes from October 2016. Houthi forces struck HSV-2 Swift near the Bab el-Mandab approaches on October 1, 2016, and USS Mason reported suspected cruise-missile attacks from Houthi-controlled Yemeni territory on October 9 and October 12. CSIS later assessed these engagements as coastal launches of C-801 or C-802 anti-ship missiles.
Sources: The Missile War in Yemen, USNI Mason Attack Report, Oryx Houthi Navy
Narrative
The C-801's role in the Yemen war was coastal anti-ship strike and maritime area denial by Houthi-aligned forces. Oryx lists C-801 Al-Mandab-1 among Houthi anti-ship missile systems inherited from pre-war Yemeni Navy stocks, while The War Zone describes the Houthi Al-Mandab or Al-Mandab-1 name as applied to C-801 missiles that had been acquired by Yemen's internationally recognized government before the Houthis seized Sanaa and other areas.
Open sources do not always separate C-801, C-802, Noor, and Houthi Al-Mandab-series designations cleanly in individual attacks. CSIS uses the combined C-801/802 attribution for the 2016 coastal launches and notes that physical similarity complicates identification of Houthi Al-Mandab-1 imagery. The strongest C-801-specific claims are therefore possession and fielding by Houthi-aligned forces, plus operational use of the C-801/C-802 family in the 2016 Bab el-Mandab maritime campaign.
Sources: Oryx Houthi Navy, TWZ Houthi Anti-Ship Arsenal, The Missile War in Yemen
