Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Tuesday denied claims that Saudi-backed government forces had driven them from strategic territory overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as rival sides offered sharply conflicting accounts of a rapidly shifting battle for one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group remained in control of its battlefield gains and dismissed reports of a government breakthrough as “fabricated victories.”
Bab al-Mandab battle: government forces claim gains, Houthis warn Saudi skies ‘not safe’
He claimed more than 200 fighters aligned with the Saudi-backed government had been hit in dozens of Houthi attacks in recent hours, saying government losses in personnel and equipment were unprecedented. The claims could not be independently verified.
Forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government launched a major ground offensive dubbed “Dawn of Yemen” on Sunday, seeking to recapture territory seized by the Houthis during their rapid advance in September. That offensive gave the Houthis control over key areas near Bab al-Mandab, including territory around Dhubab and Mocha, tightening their grip on the maritime chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
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Footage released by Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces, which they say shows troops advancing toward the town of Dhubab near the Bab al-Mandab Strait
(Photo: Reuters)
Government forces said Monday that they had retaken Dhubab and other nearby areas and advanced as far north as the outskirts of Mocha under heavy Saudi air cover. International reporting has partially verified footage showing Saudi-backed forces at an airstrip south of Dhubab, but the full extent of the government advance remains unclear. The Houthis insist they have not suffered the retreat described by their opponents.
Saudi Arabia has thrown substantial air power behind the offensive. The Saudi-led coalition said 100 fighter jets took part in the opening phase of the operation and that 324 “high-value targets” had been destroyed. It also said naval forces carried out an operation near Hodeidah targeting Houthi weapons facilities, booby-trapped boats and naval mines.
The battle is particularly significant because Bab al-Mandab is a critical artery for trade between Europe and Asia through the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Its importance has grown further amid the disruption of shipping elsewhere in the region, making control of the surrounding coastline a major strategic objective for both sides.
Houthi supporters in Sanaa. They deny retreating: ‘We still hold all our battlefield gains’
(Photo: AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The Houthis, meanwhile, say they are continuing missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia. Saree claimed strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh and the airport in Abha, and warned international airlines against using most Saudi airspace. Saudi authorities have not confirmed those claims.
Even as government forces reported gains on the Red Sea coast, the Houthis appeared to be advancing around Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city and an important government stronghold. Government military sources said Houthi forces had cut or threatened key routes linking Taiz with Aden, leaving the city effectively surrounded, although another government source disputed that the road had been completely severed.
The expanding fighting has also drawn in Riyadh’s regional partners. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed at an emergency meeting Monday to rapidly deploy military forces and capabilities to the kingdom under their Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed in August. The pact states that an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against all. It remains unclear whether Turkish or Pakistani forces will take part directly in combat operations in Yemen.
The renewed war threatens to deepen Yemen’s already severe humanitarian crisis. Fighting has intensified across several fronts since the collapse of the fragile truce that had largely contained the civil war since 2022, with civilians again being displaced in large numbers as Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis battle for control of the country’s southwest.