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Yemeni government forces announced on Sunday they were withdrawing from the area near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to focus on a defence of their main base in Aden, in a major setback for the Saudi-backed campaign against the Iran-aligned Ansar Allah Houthis.<\/strong><\/p>\n The \u200bannouncement signalled the apparent end of a six-week government counteroffensive to reclaim the coast near the mouth of the Red Sea, \u200cseized by the Houthis in September in a lightning advance that squeezed oil exports.<\/span><\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s announcement of a government retreat raises the prospect of new Houthi advances towards Aden, and underscores the predicament faced by Saudi Arabia in trying to stop the Houthis\u2019 drone and missile attacks on the kingdom. The government forces have been based in Aden on the \u200bsouthern coast since 2015 after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa.<\/span><\/p>\n Houthi gains in Yemen and attacks on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea \u200bshipping in recent months have strengthened the position of Iran in the wider Middle East conflict launched by the \u2060United States and Israel in February.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Southern Armed Forces announce the implementation of a redeployment operation for its forces from Dhubab Airport and the \u200bBab el-Mandeb area, west of Taiz Governorate,\u201d the main military force fighting for Yemen\u2019s government in the south of the country said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis \u200bstep 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There was no immediate response from the Houthis, or from Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government\u2019s main international ally.<\/span><\/p>\n Yemen\u2019s decade-long civil war, which had been dormant since 2022, abruptly reignited \u200bthis summer as a spillover from the Iran conflict. The Houthis made rapid gains to capture the coast along the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb \u200bStrait that controls access to it, while besieging government forces in Taiz, the country\u2019s third-biggest city, in mountains above the approach to Aden.<\/span><\/p>\n A Saudi-backed government offensive last month rapidly retook key \u200cpositions around \u2060the strait, notably Dhubab, but failed to drive the Houthis entirely away from the area or to retake the city of al-Mocha further up the coast.<\/span><\/p>\n The Houthis have responded by intensifying drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia, grounding flights with strikes on its main airports as well as setting global energy markets on edge by targeting energy facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n They also made significant advances in the highland areas north of Aden, cutting off Taiz in early \u200bOctober and putting increased pressure on \u200bthe disparate coalition of forces \u2060fighting for the internationally recognised government.<\/span><\/p>\n Around Bab el-Mandeb the government forces have redeployed to al-Suqyah, just south of Dhubab and 150 km (95 miles) west of Aden, but are still \u200btrying to push the Houthis from coastal areas nearby, Yemeni military sources said.<\/span><\/p>\n In the highlands south of Taiz, \u200bthe Houthis are \u2060positioned just outside the district of Tur al-Bahah in Lahj governorate, about 80 km (50 miles) from Aden.<\/span><\/p>\n The Houthi gains around Taiz, which has become the fiercest front of the civil war, undermined the government campaign around Bab el-Mandeb, the military sources said.<\/span><\/p>\n Fighting is still intensifying around the western region of Taiz, with humanitarian conditions \u2060worsening. The \u200bcity, which hosts about half of the 300,000 people displaced across Yemen by the \u200blatest fighting, remains besieged. Aid supplies are unable to enter, and civilians are unable to leave.<\/span><\/p>\nHOUTHI GAINS<\/span><\/h2>\n
GOVERNMENT FORCES STILL TRYING TO PUSH HOUTHIS FROM COAST<\/span><\/h2>\n