Yemenupdated 1h ago2 min read
Saudi-Backed Yemeni Forces Secure Bab El-Mandeb Strait, Major General Turki Al-Malki Says
Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces seized Dhubab district and key positions overlooking Bab el-Mandab Strait. Government forces retook Mocha city and advanced toward areas near Bab el-Mandab.
Bab al-Mandeb offensive claims
Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claimed they had secured the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait as part of a major offensive underway against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Spokesperson Major General Turki al-Malki said more than 100 fighter jets had been deployed on Monday and that "air protection" of the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait had been secured. The offensive came as the Houthis denied the advance had been so far-reaching and described government claims as "completely untrue".
The fighting also extended toward Taiz, where the rebels said they had captured the town of Turbah on Sunday and advanced towards the city of Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city. The UN said about 184,000 people had been displaced since the war resumed amid the US-Iran conflict.
Mocha, Taiz, and competing narratives
Yemeni government forces said they reached the outskirts of Mocha late on Monday as Houthi fighters retreated towards the highlands, and the Defence Ministry said the city had fallen. A Houthi military spokesman described reports of government breakthroughs as “fabricated heroics,” while Al Jazeera said it had not independently verified the full extent of the government’s territorial gains. Fernando Carvajal, a former United Nations Security Council adviser on Yemen, told Al Jazeera that the battle for Mocha would be a "vital sign" if Yemeni forces could hold the city.
The Saudi-led coalition spokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki said its naval forces struck Houthi “military targets” in the Hodeidah governorate, including weapons depots and facilities used to store explosive-laden boats and naval mines. The Houthis simultaneously stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz international airport in Jazan and the Najran international airport were targeted in two attacks on Monday evening, causing three minor injuries.
Mecca Pact and humanitarian stakes
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 Mecca Joint Defence Agreement framed the escalation as collective defense, and the pact states that an armed attack against any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against all. Yemen’s internationally recognized president Rashad al-Alimi swore on Sunday to fight "until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia," as the offensive aimed to retake all remaining Houthi-held territory including Sanaa.
The International Organization for Migration said on Monday that more than 184,000 people had been displaced since the war resumed, and the World Health Organization said the latest fighting had killed at least 959 people. The renewed war threatened to deepen Yemen’s already severe humanitarian crisis as civilians again faced displacement across several fronts since the collapse of the fragile truce that had largely contained the civil war since 2022.