Yemeni pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia say they have “secured” the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, at the start of a major offensive against the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The Yemeni military also said in a statement that its forces had captured the Red Sea city of Mokha on Monday afternoon with the help of Saudi air strikes.
But in conflicting reports, unnamed Yemeni government and military sources later told news agencies Reuters and AFP that the forces had only reached the city’s outskirts.
The Houthis denied losing Bab al-Mandab and Mokha and said they had struck Riyadh’s airport and other locations in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the air strikes.
Saudi Arabia condemned the attacks and reiterated calls for the UN Security Council’s permanent members to support Yemen’s internationally-recognised government.
Turkey and Pakistan, allies of Saudi Arabia, meanwhile held an emergency meeting in Riyadh and agreed to rapidly deploy military forces to Saudi Arabia in an invocation of the Mecca 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” on Saudi Arabia and said he was “deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting”, in a statement to AFP.
by BBC – Yemeni military says it has retaken Mokha and ‘secured’ Red Sea waterway
