Yemeni forces hold strategic Red Sea heights against Houthi assault

For four days straight, Yemeni government forces have held their ground on the mountains overlooking Bab Al-Mandab, one of the world's most critical shipping passages. The Iran-backed Houthis have thrown repeated assaults at the positions around Al-Madaribah Wa Al-Aarah, but as of Thursday, they have not moved the line forward by any measurable distance. A government official briefed on the fighting said the militia had launched intense waves of attacks on troops defending the Kahbub area but had failed to gain even a single inch of terrain. The landscape itself has become the government's ally—a chain of mountains, hills, and valleys that favors defenders who know the ground. Many of the Yemeni soldiers holding these heights are local fighters, men who grew up in this terrain and understand its contours in a way no invading force can match.

The stakes are enormous. Two weeks earlier, on September 10, the Houthis seized Mokha, a Red Sea port city that serves as the base for the government's National Resistance forces, commanded by Tareq Saleh, a member of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council. Days later, they took Perim Island, a strategic position inside the Bab Al-Mandab Strait itself. That gave them a foothold on one of the planet's most vital international shipping routes—a waterway through which billions of dollars in global commerce flows each year. The government forces, recognizing the danger, regrouped near Al-Madaribah to form a defensive line and prevent the Houthis from pushing further south, toward Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government.

The fighting has been costly for the militia. Over four days of assault, the Houthis have lost many fighters and significant quantities of equipment, according to the government official. They have continued to fire missiles and drones at the government positions, but the terrain has worked against them. The official said the militia appeared to be trying to seize control of the mountains overlooking Bab Al-Mandab, though they may also be positioning themselves for a push toward Aden itself. What is clear is that despite deploying large forces, they have struggled to advance and have paid a heavy price in personnel.

The government has not been passive. Yemeni warplanes have struck back repeatedly, targeting Houthi gatherings, military vehicles, trenches, and fighters on motorcycles along the Red Sea coast. In the past 24 hours alone, the Yemeni army said it had hit Houthi reinforcements southeast of Taiz and additional forces moving along the Al-Bareh-Mokha road west of the city. The army also reported that it had stopped a Houthi attack in Jabal Habashi district, west of Taiz. Across multiple provinces—Taiz, Marib, Lahj, Jouf, Hajjah, Al-Bayda, and Al-Dhale—government officials say the Houthis have suffered heavy losses.

On Thursday, Rashad Al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, met with Catherine Corm-Kammoun, the outgoing French ambassador to Yemen, in Riyadh. He used the occasion to declare that the government would reverse the recent Houthi gains along the western coast and recapture territory held by the militia. He characterized the militia's advances as temporary and said they would not deter the government from its broader mission of restoring state control over Houthi-held areas. Al-Alimi pointed to history: in the early stages of the war, shortly after the Houthis seized Sanaa in late 2014, the group believed it had momentum and could take the entire country. Instead, government forces regained Aden and around 70 percent of Yemen's territory. What is happening now, he said, marks a new phase in the state's effort to restore its institutions, secure its territories and coasts, protect its territorial waters, and shield maritime corridors from armed threats and smuggling networks.