Saudi-backed Yemeni forces said they had retaken Mokha and positions near the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Monday, while the Houthis claimed attacks on Saudi airports and an Aramco refinery.
The offensive, dubbed operation “Yemen Dawn”, seeks to reverse Houthi gains along Yemen’s western coast, where the group seized territory overlooking a major shipping route connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Read More: Houthis Take Yemen’s Entire Red Sea Coast, Tighten Grip on Bab al-Mandeb
In a post on X, the Yemeni government’s military said it took control of Mokha after “fierce fighting with the Houthis” and that battles there resulted in several Houthi casualties.
Yemen’s government-aligned Saba news agency cited a military source as saying the advance was backed by Saudi airstrikes. Military officials also claimed control of Dhubab airport and the road linking the area with Mokha.
“During the operation, they advanced and seized important positions – cutting off supply lines and roads leading to Bab al-Mandeb,” an unnamed army source told Saba.
Yemeni officials told the Associated Press that government forces had retaken Dhubab and the towns of Bab and Hadeid. Witnesses told the agency they had seen government tanks and troops entering the towns.
The Houthis dismissed the claims, with the group’s deputy governor of Taiz, Fuad Sinan, issuing a video statement purportedly from Mokha on Monday evening.
“We are currently roaming around in the streets of Mokha city… negating any reports in the media about the occupation of Mokha city,” Sinan said in the video statement shared by Houthi officials on social media.
Hazam al-Asad, a member of the group’s political bureau, told the BBC that reports of government advances, particularly in Taiz, were “false”, while Houthi-affiliated media claimed its fighters had driven government forces out of the al-Maafir and al-Mawasit districts.
Military sources speaking to AFP said government forces had cut Mokha’s only supply route but stopped short of confirming the city’s recapture.
Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had used ballistic and cruise missiles and drones to target King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, Abha airport and military facilities in Khamis Mushait.
There was no immediate confirmation from Riyadh of the claimed attacks.
The fighting is the latest turn in a conflict that has widened amid the United States and Israel’s war on Iran and Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis relaunched hostilities against the Saudi-backed government and, in a rapid offensive in September, seized Mokha as well as islands and territory around Bab al-Mandab.
The developments came as defence and foreign ministers from Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia met in Riyadh on Monday and agreed to activate “deterrence measures” under a mutual defence pact and rapidly deploy forces to Saudi Arabia to counter Houthi attacks.
“The committee agreed to activate collective deterrence measures, within the framework of the Alliance, in response to the attacks and all those responsible for them,” Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s defence minister, said in a social media post.
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