Bab el-Mandeb ‘cleared of Houthi remnants,’ Saudi envoy to Yemen says

Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, said on Friday that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has been “cleared” of the Houthi group.

“Blessed Friday, and victory for every Yemeni and Arab. Bab al-Mandeb has been cleared of the remnants of the Houthi terrorist militia,” Al Jaber said in a post on US social media company X, without providing further details.

The Houthis did not immediately comment on the ambassador’s statement.

Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.

The military escalation that began in July has marked the most extensive fighting in Yemen since the relative calm that followed a UN-brokered truce in 2022.

As clashes intensified in September, the Houthis seized several key areas in Hudaydah and Taiz provinces and advanced as far as Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Government forces launched Operation Dawn of Yemen this week to retake Houthi-held territory.

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