Operation Dawn of Yemen is targeting positions near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis deny government advances, and the two sides’ accounts of the battlefield differ.
Yemen’s government said its forces, backed by Saudi air power, had retaken the port city of Mocha and were clearing its neighborhoods. The advance is part of Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched after the Houthis took positions near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in September, including Mocha and Mayun Island.
Government forces also said they had taken Dhubab district, its airport and strategic positions around the strait, and cut the road between Dhubab and Mocha. The Houthis denied the government had advanced. Yemeni government forces earlier reported 1,122 strikes across several fronts, 1,747 Houthis “neutralized” and 364 pieces of equipment destroyed or damaged. The Saudi-led coalition said it had destroyed 324 targets it described as “high-value.” These figures come from the parties to the conflict.
Fighting intensified in September after an escalation that began in July. The conflict was described as the largest since the relative calm that followed the April 2022 truce. Clashes continued in Taiz province amid artillery fire, air strikes and civilian displacement.
Yemen’s deputy defence minister, Samir Sabri, said the first phase of the operation focused on securing the strait, Mocha and its port, alongside operations in other provinces. A US official said Washington was helping Saudi Arabia with planning, intelligence sharing and refuelling. About 200 US advisers were working at planning centers in the kingdom, the official said, while denying that US forces were directly involved in the fighting.