LAHORE MIRROR ( REUTERS) –Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have secured effective control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told Reuters on Monday, though fighting continues with Houthi forces in the area.
The government forces advanced rapidly along the coast with heavy Saudi air support to seize key positions in the Dhubab area on the narrowest point of the strait, a vital oil route whose seizure by the Iran-backed Houthis last month sent shockwaves through energy markets.
However, while Eryani said the military had seized Dhubab airstrip, located just inland from the strait, and cut off remaining Houthi forces in the area, another government source said fighting continued at a military base near the strait.
The Houthis earlier denied that government forces had made gains, describing such claims as “completely untrue”, and they threatened to attack any aircraft flying in Saudi airspace.
While recapturing the coastal area around the strait would make it harder for the Houthis to disrupt shipping between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, they could still target vessels with drones from positions further up the coast and inland.
Meanwhile, the Houthis themselves made important advances near the city of Taiz, gaining sections of a mountain road to leave government forces there besieged, according to five military sources with the Yemeni government. One other government source denied the road had been cut.
