Yemeni forces chase Houthis from Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces on Monday staged a lightning advance to retake the coast around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait up to the city of Mocha, the government said, pushing the Iran-backed Houthis out of most of the areas they seized last month.

The forces of the internationally recognised government, backed by heavy Saudi air strikes, reached the outskirts of Mocha late on Monday. Reports claim that Houthi fighters were retreating into the highlands. The Defence Ministry said the city had fallen.

The Houthis, have controlled many of Yemen’s more populous areas including the capital Sanaa since 2014.

The government forces had already taken key positions including an airstrip in the Dhubab district at the mouth of the strait, a vital Red Sea oil route whose seizure by the Houthis last month sent shock waves through energy markets.

Meanwhile, the houthis, said the government’s claims were baseless.

Recapturing the coastal area around the strait would make it harder for the Houthis to disrupt shipping between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, but could still attack vessels with drones from positions further up the coast and inland.

The Houthis made important advances near the city of Taiz, gaining sections of a mountain road to leave government forces there besieged, according to five military sources with the Yemeni government.

The group also threatened to attack air traffic in Saudi airspace.

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

The war in Yemen resumed this summer after a ceasefire that had held since 2022 collapsed. The conflict has raged on and off since Saudi Arabia launched an air campaign against the Houthis in 2015, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in what was already the poorest Arab state.