Yemen forces claim key gains near Bab al-Mandeb: What’s the latest?

Yemeni government forces say they have seized several strategic positions near the Bab al-Mandeb strait from the Iran-aligned Houthis, as fighting intensifies along the country’s western coast.

In response, the Houthis, an armed group also known by its Arabic name Ansar Allah, or Supporters of God, have claimed attacks on airports, oil infrastructure and military sites in Saudi Arabia.

The latest offensive by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government army follows major Houthi gains in September, when the group swept over the country’s Red Sea coast, capturing the strategic port city of Mocha and territory around the Bab al-Mandeb, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, has said the government’s new operation – Dawn of Yemen – announced on Sunday, aims to retake all remaining Houthi-held territory, including the capital, Sanaa, which the group has controlled since 2014, when the war first started.

So, where does the fighting stand, and what could happen next?

Southwestern Yemen has witnessed the heaviest fighting, particularly along the Red Sea coast and around Taiz.

Yemen’s government forces backed by Saudi Arabia said they, together with the Popular Resistance Forces, had taken control of the al-Manzara, al-Ashari and Dhiban mountains in Haifan, south of Taiz.

Earlier, Yemeni government forces claimed they had captured Mocha and Dhubab, both in Taiz governorate, as well as positions around Bab al-Mandeb, in a rapid Saudi-backed counteroffensive.

Government forces, supported by heavy Saudi air strikes, reached the outskirts of Mocha on Monday as Houthi fighters retreated towards the highlands, four government sources told the Reuters news agency.

Yemen’s Defence Ministry later said the city had fallen.

Without revealing any specifics, a Houthi military spokesman on Tuesday said the group remained in control of its battlefield gains and described reports from its opponents as “fabricated heroics”.

Al Jazeera has not independently verified the full extent of the government’s territorial gains.

Fernando Carvajal, a former United Nations Security Council adviser on Yemen, said the battle for Mocha will be key to the next phase of fighting.

“This will be a vital sign for us if the Yemeni government forces, led by the Southern Giants and other southern forces, can hold this city. Because, at the moment, when you look at the battle plan, Mocha is surrounded by Houthis from all three sides, and you have the Red Sea,” he told Al Jazeera.

“So, we need to wait just a little bit more to see if indeed the government forces can hold this city and then use it as a staging point to take on the Houthis on other fronts.”

The fighting has also extended northwards along the Red Sea coast to Hodeidah, which has been under Houthi control since October 2014. The Houthis had captured Sanaa weeks before that.

The Saudi-led coalition’s spokesman, Major-General Turki al-Maliki, said its naval forces struck Houthi “military targets” in the Hodeidah governorate, including weapons depots and facilities used to store explosive-laden boats and naval mines.

Al-Maliki said the operation “thwarted a planned attack” on waterways in the southern Red Sea. The coalition also said its naval forces had carried out a military operation in Hodeidah.

Meanwhile, the Houthis said their forces carried out dozens of strikes on Tuesday targeting “enemy” reinforcements east of al-Jawf governorate, resulting in an unspecified number of casualties.

The Houthis have simultaneously stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, according to Houthi-affiliated media. They targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, Abha airport and the Khamis Mushait military base with missiles and drones, as well as sites in the southern Saudi cities of Najran and Jazan.

Saudi Arabia has yet to comment on all those specific claims.

However, on Tuesday, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said the King Abdullah Bin ⁠⁠⁠⁠Abdulaziz international ⁠⁠⁠⁠airport in Jazan and the Najran international ‌‌‌‌airport were targeted in two attacks on Monday evening, causing three minor injuries.

Later in the day, the Houthis claimed another attack on a Saudi airport, this time targeting Abha International Airport in Asir Province, with a ballistic missile.

Riyadh has yet to confirm the alleged attack.

What is the humanitarian situation on the ground?

The escalation is worsening what was already one of the world’s gravest humanitarian crises.

The International Organization for Migration said on Monday that more than 184,000 people have been displaced since the war resumed.

According to the World Health Organization, the latest fighting has killed at least 959 people and wounded more than 4,200.

The fighting has also disrupted healthcare in the war-devastated country.

“Yemen’s latest escalation is pushing an already fragile health system towards breaking point,” warned Annette Heinzelmann, WHO’s emergency director for the eastern Mediterranean region.

The escalation has drawn a response from Saudi Arabia’s regional allies, with Turkiye and Pakistan agreeing to rapidly deploy military forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.

Signed in August, the pact is designed to strengthen collective deterrence and stipulates that an armed attack against Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Turkiye will be regarded as an attack on all three.

The United States, one of Saudi Arabia’s closest allies, is providing intelligence support to Riyadh, according to media reports.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government had “a right to defend themselves”.

“And obviously the Yemeni forces are going to try to retake territory that they were ousted from,” he told reporters.