Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces announced on Sunday that they are withdrawing from areas overlooking the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait also leaving the vital global shipping chokepoint under the control of Iran-aligned Houthi fighters.
In a statement, the Southern Armed Forces said they are redeploying troops from Dhubab Airport and the Bab el-Mandeb area the west of Taiz Governorate toward the southern port city of Aden. Officials stated the move is aimed at securing the interim capital and strengthening defensive front lines amid intensifying Houthi pressure.
The retreat hands the Houthis major leverage over one of the world’s busiest maritime routes which connects Asia to Europe via the Red Sea and Egypt’s Suez Canal. Combined with Iranian disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula, the development threatens to severely restrict Gulf oil producers and global trade.
The withdrawal follows a September Houthi offensive along the Red Sea coast and an unsuccessful October counter-campaign by government troops. The renewed clashes have shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce and opened another volatile front linked to the nine-month US-Israeli war on Iran.
Meanwhile the Houthis have escalated drone and missile strikes against Saudi Arabia hitting airports, ports and Saudi Aramco’s Red Sea oil hub in Yanbu prompting retaliatory Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.
The escalating conflict has displaced 300,000 people across Yemen. Nearly half are trapped in the besieged western city of Taiz where worsening fighting has blocked humanitarian aid and prevented civilians from fleeing.
