Yemen government forces claim Mokha and Bab el-Mandeb gains as Saudi jets back ‘Yemen Dawn’ offensive

Yemen’s internationally recognized government said Monday that its forces had retaken the Red Sea port city of Mokha and seized key positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, a day after it announced a Saudi-backed offensive it calls Operation Yemen Dawn. Government-allied units also took the town of Dhubab, just north of the strait, as well as the towns of Bab and Hadeid, Yemeni officials speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press. The battlefield claims could not be independently verified, and the Houthis had not confirmed them.

The Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Turki al-Malki, said 100 fighter jets were giving round-the-clock support to government troops on the ground, that the coalition had secured “air protection” of the strait and that 324 “high-value” Houthi targets had been destroyed, The National reported. Col. Majed al-Nuzaili, a spokesman for Yemen’s armed forces, said a flanking manoeuvre by the Giants Brigades and Nation’s Shield Forces had given them effective control of the strait. He said government troops had also taken Dhubab airport and cut the road between Dhubab and Mokha, and that hundreds of Houthi fighters surrounded in Dhubab had been urged to surrender while some fled by boat.

The government also announced a “strategic offensive” on Sanaa, the capital the Houthis have held since 2014. Rashad al-Alimi, who heads the Presidential Leadership Council, said on X that the operation aims at “restoring state institutions, liberating” Sanaa and ending what he called “the Houthi terrorist militia coup.” The Houthi media office reported multiple coalition airstrikes on areas under its control, including Sanaa. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said one strike killed a woman on a farm in the Sanhan area, and another hit a car in Sawan, killing a girl and injuring seven people, according to The National.

The counteroffensive follows a rapid Houthi push down the western coast in September, when the rebels captured Mokha and several Red Sea islands, giving them control of the Yemeni side of a chokepoint through which about 12 per cent of global trade passes, the AP reported. The strait has taken on extra importance this year because the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed by the conflict involving Iran, making the Red Sea route a key alternative for shipping between Asia and the Mediterranean, The National noted. Al Jazeera said the Houthi advance had choked off a second major oil passageway while Iran maintained its blockade of Hormuz.

The rebels were still gaining ground elsewhere. On Sunday they seized Turbah, a town on the main road linking the city of Taiz with the port of Aden, the government’s interim seat. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said the loss “will likely severely constrain” the ability of government-aligned forces to reinforce and resupply front-line positions across Taiz province, the AP reported. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Saudis “have a right to defend themselves.” A U.S. official and a regional official told the AP that American support for the Saudi campaign included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the offensive.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis took Sanaa and forced the government into exile, and it has killed more than 150,000 people. A truce reached in 2022 largely held until it collapsed in July, Al Jazeera reported. The latest escalation began in mid-July, when the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing Sanaa’s airport to stop an unauthorized Iranian flight from landing. The rebels answered with missile and drone attacks on the kingdom and on government forces, and declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.

The human toll is mounting. The World Health Organization says the fighting has killed at least 959 people and wounded more than 4,200, according to the AP, and The National reported that the WHO has recorded more than 5,000 casualties since Aug. 6. The WHO also warned that suspected cholera cases had tripled in three weeks, to 647 in the most recent week from 217. The UN migration agency says about 174,000 people have fled their homes inside Yemen and more than 3,000 have crossed to Djibouti. The World Food Programme said last week that three in four families in parts of the country are going hungry, The National reported.

Diplomacy is running alongside the fighting. Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, arrived in Riyadh on Monday for talks with Saudi and Turkish officials under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement the three countries signed on Aug. 7, which treats an attack on one as an attack on all, Al Jazeera reported. Dar said last week that the talks would consider a proposal, following an approach by Tehran, for political engagement with the Houthis as an alternative to the military option.

For Canadians, Ottawa’s advice has not changed. Global Affairs Canada tells Canadians to avoid all travel to Yemen, including the island of Socotra, and urges anyone still in the country to leave if it is safe to do so. A state of emergency has been in effect since Dec. 30, 2025, there is no Government of Canada office in Yemen, and consular help is handled by the embassy in Riyadh. It says it cannot help citizens trying to leave by land for Saudi Arabia, and commercial options for leaving are extremely limited.

Sources: The Associated Press via PBS News; The National; Al Jazeera; Global Affairs Canada travel advice for Yemen.