Yemen’s pro‑government forces, propelled by Saudi air support, claim they have secured the Bab al‑Mandab Strait at the end of the Red Sea. The announcement follows an offensive that also reached the city of Mokha on Monday afternoon, though sources acknowledge the troops only encircled the city’s outskirts.
The strike came after Houthi fighters launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi airbases in Riyadh and the Khurais oil fields, prompting Saudi Arabia to condemn the “dozens of massacres.” The government did not confirm the outright capture of Mokha, but it stated that forces took control of the Dhubab airfield and cut the road linking the district to the strait.
Ambassador Rashad al‑Alimi, head of Yemen’s internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council, declared the offensive “Operation Yemen Dawn” and urged all troops to fight “until the country is liberated from the Houthi terrorist militia.”
Meanwhile, Saudi‑led coalition jets have boasted the destruction of 324 high‑value targets to date, providing round‑the‑clock air support to the advancing pro‑government troops. Turkey and Pakistan mobilised under the Mecca defence pact, pledging rapid deployment to Saudi Arabia.
In tragic consequence, air strikes have killed civilians in Sanaa’s Sanhan and Saawan districts. Houthi‑run media reports confirm that the blockade of Saudi ports and airports—part of a larger maritime embargo—has intensified the conflict.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres criticized ongoing Houthi cross‑border attacks and expressed deep concern about the heightened fighting. The United Nations also warned civilian airlines that Saudi airspace, except over Mecca and Medina, is no longer safe for passage.
As the international tide turns, the Yemen conflict continues to siphon global oil prices due to the reliance on the Red Sea corridor, a key alternative route after the Strait of Hormuz was nominally closed in the recent Iran‑Israel conflict.
So far, the fighting has claimed at least 959 lives and injured 5,000 people, with an additional 197,000 displaced. The world watches as the Yemen war may redraw the geopolitical map of the Middle East.
