Yemen Government Forces Quit Area Near Bab Al Mandab, Leaving Houthis in Control

The retreat hands the Houthis greater leverage over the strait, one of the world's busiest routes for seaborne trade, particularly between Asia and Europe via Egypt's Suez Canal. Iran is already disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, and the squeeze on both routes would further isolate Gulf oil producers from their main shipping lanes.

"The Southern Armed Forces announce the implementation of a redeployment operation for its forces from Dhubab Airport and the Bab el-Mandeb area, west of Taiz Governorate," the forces said in a statement. "This step is taken based on the priority of securing the capital, Aden, and the neighbouring governorates, as well as strengthening the front lines and addressing existing threats."

The forces are redeploying toward Aden, where the government is based, as the Houthis increase pressure on the southern areas still under government control. The Houthis hold much of the north, including the capital Sanaa and Yemen's most populous areas.

In September the Houthis pushed south in an attempt to seize Yemen's entire Red Sea coast. The offensive brought them within reach of Bab Al Mandab. Government forces launched a campaign in October to recapture the strategic coastal areas.

The fighting broke a UN-brokered truce agreed in 2022 and has become another front in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran, now nine months old. The Houthis continue to attack Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter and a key US ally, which had enjoyed relative calm in the war's early months. Houthi strikes have hit Saudi ports, airports and facilities of state oil company Saudi Aramco, including the kingdom's Red Sea oil export hub of Yanbu, disrupting flights and oil supplies.

Saudi Arabia has responded with strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. The country has been mired in civil war since 2014, when the Houthis pushed the government south, and faces one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Conditions are worsening as fighting intensifies around Taiz in western Yemen. The city hosts about half of the 300,000 people displaced across Yemen by the latest fighting and remains besieged. Aid cannot get in and civilians cannot leave.