Key takeaways:
- Yemen’s military says it captured Mokha and secured Bab al-Mandab; the Houthis deny losing either position.
- Government sources told Reuters that pro-government forces had reached Mokha’s outskirts on Monday, not necessarily captured the city.
- Yemen’s government health ministry reports at least 959 killed and 5,000 injured since Aug. 6; the World Health Organization reports at least 959 killed and more than 4,200 wounded in the latest fighting.
Saudi-backed Yemeni forces say they have secured the Bab al-Mandab Strait and captured the port city of Mokha in a major offensive against the Houthis. The Houthis deny losing either position, and accounts from government sources leave control of Mokha in dispute.
Yemen’s military said its forces took Mokha on Monday afternoon with help from Saudi air strikes. But four government sources told Reuters that the troops had reached only the city’s outskirts late Monday as Houthi fighters retreated. Government military sources who spoke to AFP would not confirm the city’s capture, though they said troops had taken the Dhubab military airfield and cut a road to the Bab al-Mandab area.
A Houthi military source dismissed the claims as “Saudi propaganda,” according to Houthi-run media, and said the group still held Mokha, Dhubab and the strait. A Houthi military spokesman on Tuesday called the opposing side’s reports “fabricated heroics.” Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify the full extent of the government’s gains.
The offensive, announced Sunday by Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council, aims to retake all Houthi-held territory, including the capital, Sanaa. The Houthis have controlled Sanaa since 2014. Government forces also reported taking mountain positions south of Taiz, Al Jazeera reported.
The fighting follows a Houthi offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month that seized Mokha and territory overlooking Bab al-Mandab, a vital shipping route. The Saudi-led coalition said its aircraft were providing “round-the-clock” support and had destroyed 324 “high-value” targets since the new offensive began. According to Al Jazeera, the coalition also said its naval forces struck Houthi military targets in Hodeidah governorate, including weapons depots and facilities used to store explosive-laden boats and naval mines.
The Houthis say they have retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and military sites. BBC Verify said satellite images showed smoke at an Aramco refinery in Riyadh on Saturday and at a processing facility in Khurais on Sunday. The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said attacks on the airports in Jazan and Najran on Monday evening caused three minor injuries, Al Jazeera reported.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam accused Saudi Arabia of committing “dozens of massacres.” Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said Saudi air strikes killed a schoolgirl and a woman in Sanaa on Monday. Saudi Arabia condemned the attacks on its territory and urged permanent members of the UN Security Council to support Yemen’s government.
Turkey and Pakistan agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh to rapidly deploy forces to Saudi Arabia under a joint defence agreement, according to a statement shared by Pakistan’s foreign ministry. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned “the continued Houthi cross-border attacks” and said he was “deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting.”
The toll is mounting. Yemen’s government health ministry reported at least 959 people killed and 5,000 injured since Aug. 6, according to the BBC. Al Jazeera cited the World Health Organization as reporting at least 959 killed and more than 4,200 wounded in the latest fighting. The BBC cited a UN figure of 197,000 people displaced, while Al Jazeera said the UN migration agency put displacement since the war resumed at more than 184,000.
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