Yemeni government forces withdraw from Bab al-Mandeb Strait in major setback

The announcement signalled the apparent end of a six-week government counter-offensive to reclaim the coast near the mouth of the Red Sea, seized by the Houthis in September in a lightning advance that squeezed oil exports.

"The Southern Armed Forces announce the implementation of a redeployment operation for its forces from Dhubab Airport and the Bab al-Mandeb area, west of Taiz Governorate," the main military force fighting for Yemen's government in the south of the country said in a statement. "This step is taken based on the priority of securing the capital, Aden, and the neighbouring governorates, as well as strengthening the front lines and addressing existing threats."

Yemen's decade-long civil war, which had been dormant since 2022, abruptly reignited this summer as a spillover from the Iran conflict. The Houthis made rapid gains to capture the coast along the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait that controls access to it, while besieging government forces in Taiz, the country's third-biggest city, in mountains above the approach to Aden.

A Saudi-backed government offensive last month rapidly retook key positions around the strait, notably Dhubab, but failed to drive the Houthis entirely away from the area or to retake the city of al-Mocha further up the coast. The Houthis have responded by intensifying drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, grounding flights with strikes on its main airports as well as setting global energy markets on edge by targeting energy facilities. They also made significant advances in the highland areas north of Aden, cutting off Taiz in early October and putting increased pressure on the disparate coalition of forces fighting for the internationally recognised government.

Around Bab al-Mandeb, the government forces have redeployed to al-Suqyah, just south of Dhubab and 150km west of Aden, but are still trying to push the Houthis from coastal areas nearby, Yemeni military sources said. In the highlands south of Taiz, the Houthis are positioned just outside the district of Tur al-Bahah in Lahj governorate, about 80km from Aden. The Houthi gains around Taiz, which has become the fiercest front of the civil war, undermined the government campaign around Bab al-Mandeb, the military sources said.

Fighting is still intensifying around the western region of Taiz, with humanitarian conditions worsening. The city, which hosts about half of the 300,000 people displaced across Yemen by the latest fighting, remains besieged. Aid supplies are unable to enter, and civilians are unable to leave. Meanwhile, the Houthis have released 600 prisoners, the International Committee of the Red Cross said today.