Fighting between Yemen's pro-government forces and Houthi rebels has killed more than 80 people in two days, both sides said Friday, after the Iran-backed rebels launched an offensive near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital route linking Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.
Government sources say the rebels are trying to cut off the port city of Mokha from government-held territory © Mena Today
Fighting between Yemen's pro-government forces and Houthi rebels has killed more than 80 people in two days, both sides said Friday, after the Iran-backed rebels launched an offensive near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital route linking Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.
The Houthis launched a ground offensive Thursday, backed by rockets and drones, near the Red Sea coast and the inland region of Taiz. Military officials reported 24 government fighters killed near the coast and 15 in Taiz, while medical sources in Houthi-held areas put rebel losses at over 42. Neither side has given an official toll.
Government sources say the rebels are trying to cut off the port city of Mokha from government-held territory, after seizing high ground overlooking Red Sea positions and Taiz, terrain that could let them target shipping.
The government has sent reinforcements to Taiz from Aden, mobilized at Saudi Arabia's request.
The strait is increasingly vital for Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, since Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz when the regional war began in February. In July, the Houthis vowed to blockade Saudi shipping and have since claimed several tanker attacks in the Red Sea.
Yemen's war, which raged from 2014 to 2022 between the Saudi-backed government and the Houthis, reignited in July after strikes attributed to Riyadh hit Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport, following an unauthorized Iranian flight there.
The Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, which is named after a Shi'ite Muslim scholar whose shrine sits at its summit, has become one of the most contested pieces of ground in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on a mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran would not continue for "too long" after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July.
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