Saudi-led forces claim Yemen ground advances against Houthis

Sherif Tarek and Ahmed Elimam, Bloomberg News on Oct 6, 2026

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Yemen’s internationally-recognized government, backed by Saudi Arabia, claimed to have regained territory from the Houthis, as fighting in the region near the Bab el-Mandeb strait intensifies.

The Yemeni armed forces said they took control of the Red Sea city of Mokha on Monday after battles with the Iran-backed Houthis, according to Saba, a Yemeni news agency.

Overnight, the Houthis said the Saudi Arabian military had launched around 60 airstrikes on parts of Yemen, including the capital, Sana. The Houthis said they responded by firing missiles and drones at the kingdom, and targeted the main airport in Riyadh.

Saudi authorities said the Jazan and Najran airports, near the Yemen border, had sustained material damage from attacks on Monday, the extent of which was being assessed. Three people were injured, they added.

Claims over the coalition’s advance in Yemen and broader targets of Houthi attacks could not be immediately verified by Bloomberg.

The Saudi-led coalition announced a large operation on Sunday to recapture Houthi-held territory after weeks of conflict that saw the Islamist group gain more ground in Yemen and regularly attack Saudi Arabian cities and energy sites.

Aside from Mokha, Yemeni troops said they had taken over other areas near the Bab el-Mandeb strait such as Dhubab. The coalition also said it destroyed a ballistic-missile launcher in Sana and carried out a naval operation that demolished military targets, including weapons depots, in Hodeida, a key port north of Bab el-Mandeb that the Houthis have held for more than a decade.

The Houthis are one of Tehran’s main proxy militant groups but largely stayed out of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran until around July. Then, they announced a blockade on Saudi ports, claiming the kingdom was besieging parts of Yemen. Fighting picked up in early September, when the Houthis started firing on Saudi Arabia almost-daily and advanced south from their areas in north-west Yemen toward the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key waterway for energy tankers and container ships.

While the Houthis were already disrupting some maritime traffic, the seizure of Mokha tightened their grip over the chokepoint. For now, the Houthis have said they’ll only target Saudi ships, though their threats have prompted many non-Saudi firms to avoid the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which sit on either side of the strait.

Even if the Saudi-led coalition manages to hold territory it’s gained in the past 48 hours, it’s unlikely to achieve its stated goal of “eliminating” the Houthis, according to Dina Esfandiary and Becca Wasser, geoeconomists at Bloomberg. The group captured Sana in 2014 — triggering Yemen’s ongoing civil war — and controls territory holding roughly 70% of the country’s population. It has withstood bombing campaigns from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S., the U.K. and Israel.

“For Saudi Arabia, this counteroffensive is a gamble — and reflects the tough spot it has found itself in,” Esfandiary and Wasser said. The Yemeni forces within the coalition are “rife with infighting, which hampers decision-making. And the group hasn’t proven to be very competent militarily. Regardless of any territorial gains, the Houthis can still hit a range of targets, from energy infrastructure that will put further pressure on the global economy, to airports and civil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.”

Late on Monday, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan said they had agreed the immediate “implementation of the collective defense commitments” of their recently-signed Mecca Pact. The announcement came during an emergency meeting of the defense alliance in Riyadh.

The three countries will ensure the provision of “military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom,” according to a joint statement.

“These are likely to be committed to the defense of Saudi Arabia and little help in this new offensive,” Esfandiary and Wasser said.

—With assistance from Carla Canivete and Tom Fevrier.