SRINAGAR: Fighting in Yemen has intensified along the Red Sea coast after Iran-backed Houthi forces seized the strategic port city of Mokha and moved to strengthen their position around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while the group claimed fresh attacks against targets in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi advance has dealt a major setback to Yemen’s internationally recognised government and its Saudi-backed allies, who have vowed to reinforce their positions and seek to regain territory lost in the latest offensive. Al Jazeera reported that government forces withdrew from Mokha after the Houthis took control of the city on Thursday.
Mokha is located about 80 kilometres from the Bab el-Mandeb, a crucial maritime chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis’ seizure of the city and nearby strategic positions has raised concerns over the security of international shipping and the movement of oil through the region, according to international media reports.
Yemeni government forces have said they are regrouping along the western coast. Sultan al-Arada, a member of the Presidential Leadership Council and governor of Marib province, described the recent losses as “painful and regrettable” and said the forces would return to the fighting.
Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, meanwhile described the setbacks as “incidental”, according to Yemen’s state-run SABA news agency, while reaffirming the government’s stated objective of restoring state institutions and sovereignty throughout the country.
Yemeni military sources also reported strikes against Houthi positions in and around the western coastal areas. The escalation comes after pro-government forces, including the National Resistance, Giants Brigades and Nation’s Shield units, withdrew from Mokha following several days of fighting, according to The National.
The National Resistance said more than 500 government fighters had been killed along the west coast during the past four weeks and claimed that more than 1,000 Houthi fighters had been killed in Hodeida and Taiz provinces. Those figures could not be independently verified, and the Houthis did not immediately provide a response, the Associated Press reported.
The renewed fighting has triggered a fresh displacement crisis. The International Organization for Migration said on Sunday that more than 85,000 people had been displaced within Yemen since the beginning of September. More than 2,000 Yemenis have also crossed the Bab el-Mandeb to Djibouti, according to the IOM figures cited by the Associated Press and other international media.
The conflict has also increasingly spilled across Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia. Houthi military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree claimed the group had launched missiles and drones against Saudi targets, including a military installation. The claims were not independently verified.
Saudi authorities activated air-raid sirens in Abha and Khamis Mushait on Sunday amid warnings of possible incoming attacks. Saudi Civil Defence said a projectile struck an area near the country’s border with Yemen, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and other buildings. Saudi authorities attributed the incident to the Houthis.
The Houthis have also targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and maritime traffic. Their expanding control around the Bab el-Mandeb has heightened concerns about a potential disruption to one of the world’s key shipping routes, particularly as the Strait of Hormuz is already affected by the wider regional conflict. The Wall Street Journal reported that the developments have intensified concerns over global oil supplies.
The Houthi advance has brought the group closer to Djibouti, across the Bab el-Mandeb. The Associated Press reported that the fighters are now about 32 kilometres from a US military base in Djibouti. The country has received more than 2,000 Yemenis fleeing the latest violence, while its authorities have been involved in rescue and emergency assistance operations.
The latest offensive threatens to end the relative calm that followed a 2022 ceasefire, which had substantially reduced large-scale fighting between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government. The renewed clashes have raised fears of a return to a broader civil war.
The conflict has already caused a severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with millions of people facing displacement, food insecurity and other hardships. The latest fighting along the western coast is adding to those pressures as civilians flee areas captured or threatened by the Houthis.
The capture of Mokha and the expansion of Houthi control towards the Bab el-Mandeb have also increased the regional significance of the conflict. The Indian Express reported that the fighting around the strategic waterway is disrupting concerns over global shipping and has added another dimension to the wider confrontation involving Iran, the United States and regional powers.
