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.
Hezbollah on Wednesday rejected accusations that it had dispatched experts to Yemen to fight alongside the Houthis in their war against the internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia.
The US Democrats' "blue wave" of midterm election victories is already causing ripples across the rest of the world, where trade partners, strategic allies and enemies all see implications in the result.
Iran and the United States are still far from a deal to end their war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump declined to rule out a resumption of US combat operations after the elections in the United States.
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