Yemeni Government Forces Seize Bab el-Mandeb From Houthis

Southern Giants Brigades / via Reuters

Military vehicles travel along a road during what Yemeni government forces say was an advance against the Iran-backed Houthis.

Yemeni government forces launched a rapid advance on Monday to retake the coastline around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as far as the city of Mocha, the government said, pushing Houthi forces out of most of the areas they had seized the previous month.

In response, the Houthis said they had attacked several key locations in Saudi Arabia, including King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, Abha International Airport and the Khamis Mushait military base.

Yemeni forces loyal to the internationally recognised government, backed by heavy Saudi air strikes, reached the outskirts of Mocha late on Monday, with Houthi fighters retreating towards the highlands, four government sources said. The Defence Ministry said the city had been captured.

If confirmed, the advance would weaken the Houthis’ control over a vital Red Sea oil route, adding to disruptions already affecting energy markets following Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the Houthis could still target vessels in the area with drones launched from other positions.

Fighting has intensified along several front lines in Yemen in recent weeks, following the revival of the dormant civil war as a spillover from the US-Iran conflict. The Houthis have sought to control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait while launching missiles and drones towards Saudi cities and infrastructure.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said late on Monday that its naval forces had conducted a military operation in Yemen’s Red Sea governorate of Hodeidah. Government forces had already captured key positions, including an airstrip in the Dhubab district at the mouth of the strait. The Houthis’ seizure of the area last month sent shock waves through energy markets.

Meanwhile, Houthi forces made significant advances near Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, capturing sections of a mountain road and leaving government forces under siege, according to five military sources affiliated with the Yemeni government. One government source denied that the road had been cut off.

The Houthis also threatened to target air traffic in Saudi airspace.

The escalating conflict has prompted Riyadh’s allies to take action. Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday to rapidly deploy military forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia under their defence pact, according to a joint statement.

The fighting has further aggravated Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, with the country remaining the poorest in the Arab world. The UN migration agency said on Monday that 184,000 people had been displaced since the conflict resumed.

Yemen’s internationally recognised President Rashad al-Alimi vowed on Sunday to fight “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia”.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it had struck hundreds of targets to provide air support for operations around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and for Yemeni ground forces. The Yemeni government said it had launched attacks on several fronts, including in Sanaa province.

The Houthi-run health ministry said two people had been killed and seven wounded in strikes on the Sanhan and Sa’wan districts of the province.

While fighting has continued on several fronts, the heaviest clashes have been concentrated in southwestern Yemen, particularly along the coast near the strait and in the hills surrounding Taiz.

A Houthi-run news agency, citing a military source, reported on Monday that the group had driven government forces out of al-Mawasit district in Taiz province, advancing towards the home of Alimi, who heads Yemen’s interim presidential council.

Following their meeting, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan accused the Houthis in a joint statement of attempting to target Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina.

"The Parties also condemned in the strongest terms the attempted targeting of ⁠Mecca and Medina, as well as the continuing attacks targeting cities and civilian and economic facilities in the Kingdom, reaffirming their unequivocal rejection of any attack or threat against the Kingdom's security and territorial integrity," the statement said.

The "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement," signed in August, is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three countries would be regarded as an attack on all.



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