Yemeni government forces said on Monday that they had seized the vital Red Sea port of Mocha and the critical Bab al-Mandab Strait from the Houthis. The forces have also launched a "strategic offensive" toward Sanaa, the capital the Houthis have held for over a decade.
The government said the advance was part of its 'Dawn of Yemen' operation, a broader offensive begun earlier that day aimed at retaking Houthi-held territory, with Saudi Arabia providing extensive air support.
The Saudi-led coalition said around 100 fighter jets were supporting the 'Dawn of Yemen' operation and had destroyed 324 Houthi targets. Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki said they were providing round-the-clock aerial support to Yemeni government forces on the ground and air cover for the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
A military source was quoted by the state-run Saba news agency as saying that the Nation's Shield forces, the pro-government Giants Brigades and the Tihama Resistance, backed by airstrikes, entered Mocha of southwestern Taiz province after fierce fighting on the city's outskirts.
The source said an unspecified number of Houthi fighters were killed, wounded or captured in the fighting, while others fled. The Houthis have not yet responded.
Mocha is about 80 kilometers from the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital shipping lane and trade gateway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier Monday, Majid al-Nuzaili, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said government troops had also captured Dhubab airport, where some Houthi fighters, after being besieged, were fleeing by boat while hundreds remained trapped.
Houthis deny government advances
However, Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV, citing a military source within the group, denied the reported government advances toward Dhubab on Monday, dismissing them as "completely false" and accusing Saudi media of seeking to cover up battlefield setbacks. The Houthis stressed that fighting for control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait was still continuing.
Government forces push towards Sanaa
Also on Monday, Yemeni government forces announced that they had begun a "strategic offensive" on another front toward Sanaa City, which has been controlled by the Houthis since 2014. According to a media website under the Yemeni Defense Ministry, government forces launched a "large-scale offensive" against Houthi positions on multiple front lines in Marib, about 170 kilometers east of Sanaa, and made progress.
The military operation inflicted heavy losses on the Houthis.
Al-Masirah TV reported the same day that Saudi airstrikes targeting Sanaa region had killed one person and wounded two others.
Rubio's remarks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that it was expected that the Saudi-backed government in Yemen would hit back at the rebels to reclaim territory. Asked if the Saudi-led coalition coordinated the action with the United States, Rubio said that Saudi Arabia and the US have a defence agreement but wouldn't offer more details.
The Yemeni government was ousted from some of its territory by a Houthi campaign and the Saudis have come under attack, and “they have a right to defend themselves,” Rubio said.
The US has provided support to Saudi Arabia in its ongoing campaign against the Houthis, according to a regional official and a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to speak to reporters. US support included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the offensive, said the officials.
The US had supported the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis early in the Yemen war, before quitting the coalition in recent years.
Yemen's conflict broke out in late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country's north, forcing the internationally recognized government out of the capital. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the government. The recent clashes marked the sharpest escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities in the war-torn country.
(With inputs from Reuters & AP via PTI)
