Clashes between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces have resulted in the deaths of 81 individuals, according to military and medical sources on Friday. The Iran-backed Houthis are advancing toward territory near a crucial chokepoint in the Red Sea, escalating tensions in the region.
Clashes between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces have killed 81, military and medical sources said on Friday, as the Iran-backed rebels push towards territory bordering a chokepoint in the strategic Red Sea.
They later announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships and territory as Yemen, following more than a decade of civil conflict, became the latest country drawn into the Middle East war. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) Fighting erupted on Thursday, after the Houthis launched a ground assault along with rocket and drone attacks near coastal areas, vying for control of the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait at the Red Sea’s southern entrance. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi ships in recent weeks in the Red Sea, which has emerged as an alternative route for oil exports after Iran all but halted shipments from the Gulf by blockading the Strait of Hormuz. With Iran’s closure of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint has gained increased importance as a transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude. The narrow waterway connects the Red Sea — and, via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean — to the Indian Ocean. they hold the key port city of Hodeida north of Mokha Although the Houthis do not control areas bordering Bab al-Mandab. In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and the government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.
The rebels are now trying to cement their hold over one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which they have disrupted with attacks on passing vessels since the Gaza war broke out in 2023. A military official on the coast said 24 of his men had been killed, while another in the Taiz area said 15 had died there. At least 42 Houthi militants were also killed, according to medical sources in areas under their control. Reinforcements sent The Houthis want to control the hills overlooking Bab al-Mandab and Mokha before attacking the coast, a Yemeni official in Aden, the government’s base since it was ousted from the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
The Houthi offensive aims to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab, military sources told AFP. The rebels have seized elevated sites overlooking government positions near the Red Sea, the coastal town of Khokha and Taiz city further inland, a military source and a Taiz official told AFP, requesting anonymity. The Houthis could target ships from these elevated positions, they said. The government has sent reinforcements to Taiz from Aden on Saudi orders, the official said.
