Saudi-Backed Yemeni Forces Claim Control of Bab el-Mandeb Strait
The Facts
- Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces advanced around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said Monday, claiming effective control of the waterway, though fighting continued near a military base in the area. The Houthis disputed these alleged gains.
- Military spokesman Lt. Col. Majid Abdullah al-Nuzayli said the Southern Giants Brigades and Nation's Shield forces had taken Dhubab airport and cut the road to Mokha, while claiming hundreds of Iran-backed Houthi fighters were surrounded and that some had fled by boat.
- Meanwhile, Saudi-led coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said 100 fighter jets were supporting government forces, with coalition strikes reportedly destroying hundreds of Houthi targets and providing air cover over the strait.
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The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
An armed faction that seized a capital by force and now chokes a waterway carrying 12% of global trade cannot be allowed to hold global commerce hostage. Saudi backing for the counteroffensive at Bab el-Mandeb demonstrates that the Houthi advance was never unstoppable, just insufficiently challenged. Restoring state institutions with Saudi support and reopening the strait offer a path to ending the blockade, missile attacks and the suffering of displaced Yemenis.
Establishment-critical narrative
Years of foreign bombing and blockade have hardened Yemeni resistance and handed the Houthis much of the Red Sea coast. Announcing a grand military campaign from Riyadh while towns fall without a fight exposes a puppet government with little real authority beyond what Saudi money and firepower provide. Besides the fact that Saudi airstrikes target markets and homes, killing civilians and displacing families, another bombing campaign will not change the military situation on the ground.
