Saudi Forces Win Back Control of Key Red Sea Port After Rapid Advance Left Houthis Overextended

Yemen’s government forces, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, have retaken control with a strategic Red Sea port city as part of a new offensive against the Houthi rebels. The Saudi-led coalition launched operation “Dawn of Yemen” over the weekend to push the Houthis back from areas it seized last month, including the strategically important city of Mokha, near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, through which roughly seven percent of the world’s oil supply passes.Yemen’s state news agency reported that the government forces had now taken control with Mokha after it fell to the Houthis last month. The Yemenite military also said its forces had seized Dhubab airport further south and taken control of the Bab al-Mandeb area and Dhubab district. Saudi airplanes have provided cover for the Yemenite government forces on the ground, with some 100 warplanes flying sorties on Monday. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said attacks were also launched against the port city of Hodeidah which targeted “weapons depots, facilities storing booby-trapped boats and naval mines.” The Saudi Press Agency also reported that the coalition destroyed a site in Saada containing 20 ballistic missiles, an area not far from the Saudi border. In return, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and the Aramco refinery in Rabigh with drones, ballistic and cruise missiles. The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport were attacked by the Houthis on Monday. “Specialised teams dealt with the attacks immediately upon their occurrence. The attacks resulted in three injuries of varying severity and material damage. The injured were transported to hospital to receive the necessary medical care,” it said in a statement.Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council chief Rashad al-Alimi said the time for de-escalation had passed and that his forces had moved “from the stage of preparation to the stage of action to restore the state.”Senior fellow at the Foundation of Defense of Democracies, Edmund Fitton-Brown, told the Sun that the Saudis “are clearly having some success.”“The initial Houthi gains were rapid and left them over-extended. The determined Saudi backing that had previously been lacking has enabled the Internationally Recognized Government to retake recently lost territory. Intense Houthi efforts to take Taez (east of Mokha) appear to have failed so far. But it is too soon to say how permanent this turn in the tide of the war will prove,” he said. Mr. Fitton Brown, who also served as British ambassador to Yemen, added: “The battle lines have not moved greatly over the past decade. Talk of the IRG retaking Sanaa feels premature, absent an entirely new strategy backed by a different order of international support.”Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman meanwhile announced that a defense pact between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey had been activated following a meeting between the three. The committee of Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani representatives “reaffirmed the solidarity and unity of our countries in confronting the heinous attacks against the Kingdom and the holy sites. 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,” Mr. Salman said. The three countries signed the pact in August which stated that an attack on one would be considered an attack on all of them. But so far neither Turkey nor Pakistan have attacked the Houthis in solidarity with Saudi Arabia. The renewed conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia began in July when the terror group accused Riyadh of targeting its airport in Sanaa where an Iranian plane was reportedly about to land. The Houthis have since then imposed what they call a maritime blockade of Saudi ships in the Red Sea, while launching ballistic missile and drone attacks against energy infrastructure and airports in Saudi Arabia. At least 959 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the World Health Organization and about 174,097 people were forced to flee their homes in Yemen, according to the UN migration agency.Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed Bin Salman reportedly asked President Trump twice last month to strike the Houthis as they making rapid gains in Western Yemen, but Mr. Trump declined. Instead, more than 100 American military personnel have reportedly provided the Saudis with intelligence and advice on the ground inside the Kingdom. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Washington has “defense and security agreement with Saudi Arabia and we intend to live by it. I won’t discuss details further than that.”“The Saudis and Yemeni forces clearly are not in favor of the Houthis controlling that territory close to the – to the strait there. And it’s territory that was gained as a result of a Houthi offensive, and this is the counter to it. We expected that would happen and that’s what’s happening,” Mr. Rubio said. “So obviously the Saudis have come under Houthi attack and see the threat that that poses, and they have a right to defend themselves. And obviously the Yemeni forces are going to try to retake territory that they were ousted from,” he added.

Saudi Forces Win Back Control of Key Red Sea Port After Rapid Advance Left Houthis Overextended

Saudi Forces Win Back Control of Key Red Sea Port After Rapid Advance Left Houthis Overextended

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