Yemeni forces advance around Bab el-Mandeb but have not secured the strait, and Perim Island stays in Houthi hands, military sources tell AFP

Perim Island, known in Arabic as Mayyun, in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, in a satellite image taken by NASA’s ASTER instrument in 2000. [file photo] Image: NASA, public domain

Yemeni gov’t forces are advancing against the Houthis in areas around the Bab el-Mandeb strait but have not yet secured control of the waterway, Yemeni military sources told AFP on Saturday.

Sources from the military of Yemen’s internationally recognized gov’t also told AFP that Perim Island, known in Arabic as Mayyun and located in the heart of the strait, remained in Houthi hands as fighting continued. Clashes in western Yemen, mainly around the strait, killed at least 63 people in the 24 hours before Saturday, military sources from both sides told the news agency. They said 35 members of the gov’t forces and 28 Houthis were among the dead. AFP said the claims of the warring parties “have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult.”

The military sources’ account differs from a statement made on Friday by Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, who wrote on X that Bab el-Mandeb had been cleared of the remnants of the Houthi militia. A Houthi spokesman denied that claim on Friday, and on Saturday the Houthis again said they held the strait. “Saudi-led forces attempted to advance from the Ras al-Ara area in Lahj governorate towards the area south of Bab al-Mandab,” Hizam al-Asad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, told AFP. “However, our forces repelled them outside the Bab al-Mandab zone, inflicting heavy losses in personnel and equipment and forcing the survivors to retreat.” He added: “Our forces maintain control over Bab al-Mandab, Mayun Island, and the remaining areas along the country’s western coast.”

Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, wrote on X on Friday afternoon that Houthi forces had, “for the second time within hours,” pushed back what he called mobilized forces of “the Saudi enemy” that were trying to advance from Lahj toward Bab el-Mandeb. He said more than 22 armored vehicles were destroyed, dozens of fighters including several commanders were killed or wounded, and more than 30 ambulances carried the dead and wounded to Aden, in Mereja’s translation. The Sanaa-based Yemen Press Agency said Houthi forces had prepared a defensive plan in advance, carried out a landing from the sea during the second attack, and forced the attacking forces back to their positions in Lahj. It also cited military experts and activists as saying about 500 people were killed or wounded on both sides, a figure it said had not been independently confirmed.

Anadolu Agency reported on Saturday morning that Yemeni gov’t forces said they had thwarted a Houthi attack north of Dhubab airport, near the strait, and that the Giants Brigades reported heavy Houthi losses in personnel and equipment. The Saudi-led coalition said late Friday that it had destroyed 136 Houthi military targets in what it called a large-scale operation, and its spokesman, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said the coalition was also working to dismantle the Houthis’ ballistic missile network, Saudi Gazette reported. Yemen’s army spokesman, Brigadier General Majed al-Nadhib, said on Friday, citing preliminary assessments, that gov’t forces had carried out more than 2,750 strikes on Houthi positions in 24 hours and that more than 1,400 Houthi fighters had been “neutralized.” The Houthis’ Al-Masirah television said strikes had hit the Bab el-Mandeb area on Saturday, as well as Sanaa’s international airport, AFP reported.

Fadhl alesaei, a journalist who describes himself on X as a specialist in Yemeni affairs and founder of the Arab Press Center for Strategic and Media Studies, published a field assessment covering 1 AM to 1 PM local time on Saturday. He wrote that fighting was centered on the al-Ardi camp, the area around Dhubab airport and the Kahbub heights overlooking the strait, “without a final resolution by the end of the monitoring period,” in Mereja’s translation. He wrote that after 11 AM, gov’t forces and the Giants Brigades moved to consolidate their positions, setting up observation points in the strait, at al-Ardi camp and at coast guard posts “up to Mayyun island.” He said all casualty figures were preliminary estimates.

An X user who posts as al-Habarjas (@aac8813), and who describes himself in his bio as an officer in the southern armed forces and a member of the Southern Transitional Council, wrote early Saturday that southern forces had cut the road linking Dhubab, Bab el-Mandeb, al-Ardi and Mayyun island several days ago. He said about 400 Houthi fighters were surrounded there and refused to surrender, and that both sides suffered heavy losses “in a square of no more than 20 kilometers,” in Mereja’s translation. Nadwa Dawsari, a Yemen analyst who describes herself on X as an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, posted a video on Saturday that she said showed members of gov’t forces “removing landmines laid by the Houthis in Bab Al-Mandab.” Mereja could not verify the claims or the video.

The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), the naval group that advises merchant ships in the region, said in its update of October 8 that the threat level for Bab el-Mandeb and the southern Red Sea “remains SUBSTANTIAL,” and that “additional attacks are a strong possibility.” The update said Houthi forces “remain in control of Mocha, Mayun/Perim, Zuqar and the Hanish islands, commanding both Bab el-Mandeb channels,” and it counted 97 transits of Bab el-Mandeb by cargo ships in the 96 hours from October 4 to 7, about 24 a day, against a 2023 average of about 61 a day. It also reported piracy activity in the shipping lane 12 nautical miles west of Dhubab. The JMIC update was issued before Friday’s and Saturday’s fighting.

Across the strait, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, told reporters on Thursday that tension in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz had raised operating costs at Djibouti’s ports, while transshipment had increased slightly as larger ships unloaded cargo there for transfer to other vessels, Dawan Africa reported. “We are not parties to this crisis, but we are bearing its consequences,” Hadi said. He did not give figures. Djibouti’s ports handle most of Ethiopia’s foreign trade.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday that more than 20,000 migrant movements from Ethiopia into Djibouti had been recorded since September 10, as migrants continue to use the Eastern Route that links the Horn of Africa with Yemen and the Gulf, and that more than 3,000 stranded migrants were seen along routes in Djibouti between September 20 and 30, facing dehydration and shortages of food and water, Anadolu Agency reported. The IOM said Djibouti is at the same time receiving people fleeing Yemen and migrants returning from there, including 539 Ethiopians since September 10. More than 200,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since July, AFP said, citing UN data.

AFP reported that the Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at targets inside Saudi Arabia, and Riyadh said on Friday that attacks on the Saudi capital’s international airport had killed three people the previous day. Saree wrote on Friday that Saudi warplanes had carried out 77 air strikes and missile attacks in the previous 24 hours, which he said hit civilian sites in Sanaa and six provinces.

Sources:

Yemeni forces advance around Bab el-Mandeb but have not secured the strait, and Perim Island stays in Houthi hands, military sources tell AFP

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