Saudi coalition recaptures key strait areas from Houthis in Yemen offensive

On Monday, forces aligned with Yemen's internationally recognized government recaptured three strategic towns near the Bab al-Mandab strait—Dhubab, Bab, and Hadeid—in a coordinated offensive backed by one hundred Saudi fighter jets. Yemeni officials confirmed the advance, speaking anonymously because they lacked authorization to address the press. Witnesses reported seeing government tanks and troops moving into the reclaimed towns. The operation represented a significant push to reverse recent territorial losses to the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which had seized control of critical areas along the Red Sea coastline and around the strait, a vital chokepoint for international shipping.

Yet even as the coalition announced these gains, the military situation on the ground remained fluid and contested. The Houthis, in a nearly simultaneous move, had captured the town of Turbah in southwestern Yemen and were advancing toward Taiz, the country's third-largest city. More consequentially, they severed the main supply route connecting the besieged city of Taiz to Aden, where Yemen's interim government is based. A police source in the area described how Houthi forces took control of al-Safiya, cut the primary road, and seized the police station. Military sources from the government side confirmed the blockade, reporting that traffic along the route had halted and Houthi fighters now surrounded Taiz from multiple directions.

The human toll of the fighting was immediate and severe. In a single day of combat around Taiz province, more than seventy people were killed. Government sources reported thirty-four of their troops dead—twenty of them on the edge of Taiz province in neighboring Lahj—while Houthi military sources claimed thirty-nine of their fighters were killed across Taiz and border areas. The city itself remained under government control but had endured a prolonged siege from the north, east, and west, making it one of the war's most contested fronts.

Saudi coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Malki characterized the operation as part of a broader campaign to eliminate Houthi territorial holdings. He stated that the coalition had destroyed hundreds of Houthi targets and secured air protection over the strategic strait. The United States, through Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acknowledged the offensive without committing to operational details. Rubio noted that Saudi Arabia and the United States maintained a defense agreement and that the Saudi-backed government had the right to defend itself after being pushed from territory by the Houthis.

The Houthis responded with their own strikes. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced that the group had launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi energy company Aramco facilities in Riyadh and the Khurais area to the east, causing large fires. The attacks, Saree said, were retaliation for fifty Saudi-led air and missile strikes conducted in Yemen over the previous twelve hours. Saudi Arabia offered no immediate confirmation of the Houthi claims. The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television reported Saudi strikes on Sunday in the northern governorates of al-Jawf and Saada, saying at least two people were wounded.

The escalating cycle of territorial gains and losses, combined with direct attacks on Saudi infrastructure, underscores the deepening intensity of the conflict. Yemen's internationally recognized government, despite sustained Saudi military support, has struggled to reverse the Houthi surge. The Houthis have increasingly targeted Saudi Arabia itself in recent weeks, adding a regional dimension to what began as a civil war. Saudi oil exports were already constrained by Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, making the contest for control of the Bab al-Mandab strait—another critical shipping passage—a matter of broader geopolitical consequence. The offensive launched Monday signals that neither side views the conflict as approaching resolution.