Middle East / Red Sea · Public record

Saudi-led jets back Yemen's offensive to retake the Bab al-Mandeb coast from the Houthis

Yemen's internationally recognised government said on Monday 5 October 2026 that its forces had retaken Dhubab district on the Bab al-Mandeb strait, with air support from the Saudi-led coalition. The coalition's spokesman, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, said 100 fighter jets took part in the launch of the operation and that the coalition was providing air protection for the strait, according to Yemen's state news agency Saba and The Guardian. The Houthis said the government's claims were baseless, Reuters reported. Reuters and Al Jazeera said they could not independently verify the government's reported gains.

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, announced the offensive on Sunday 4 October. On Monday he launched it under the name Operation Dawn of Yemen, Al Arabiya reported. Its stated aim is to retake all territory held by the Houthis, including the capital, Sanaa. The first reported ground gains are on the Red Sea coast around Bab al-Mandeb. The Houthis seized that coast between 10 and 12 September, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), which publishes shipping advisories through UKMTO.

What is reported

• The announcement. In a televised address on Sunday, al-Alimi said: "Today, I announce the start of military operations to retake the remaining territory of the republic and extend the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire national territory."
• The air campaign. AFP reported that al-Maliki said 100 jets flew at daybreak and were providing "round-the-clock air support for the Yemeni armed forces on the ground". Riyadh said it had attacked hundreds of targets to provide air cover for the strait and for Yemeni ground forces, Reuters reported. The Guardian reported air strikes in Sanaa and in Saada, the Houthis' northern stronghold.
• Dhubab. A military source told Saba that the National Shield Forces (also translated as Nation's Shield or Homeland Shield) and the Giants Brigades, backed by popular resistance forces, took Dhubab district and positions around the strait and cut roads and supply lines leading to it. Reuters reported that government forces had taken key positions, including an airstrip in Dhubab district at the mouth of the strait. Yemeni officials, speaking anonymously, said government forces had also captured the towns of Bab and Hadeid, and witnesses said they saw government tanks entering the towns, The Guardian reported.
• Mocha. Government forces reached the outskirts of Mocha late on Monday, four government sources told Reuters. Yemen's Defence Ministry said the city had fallen, Reuters reported. A military source quoted by Saba said government forces had taken control of the city, The National reported. The Houthis took Mocha in September.
• Sanaa. Government forces announced a "strategic offensive" on Sanaa, which the Houthis have held since 2014, according to Al Jazeera and AFP. The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV confirmed attacks on Sanaa, The National reported. The Houthi-run health ministry said two people were killed and seven wounded in strikes on the Sanhan and Sa'wan districts of Sanaa province, Reuters reported.
• The United States. Axios, citing US officials, reported on 2 October that the US had rebuffed Saudi requests to join the operation with air strikes, for the second time in recent weeks. One official told Axios that the US "is not going to take kinetic action for now". US officials told Axios the US is giving Saudi Arabia intelligence and targeting support. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Saudis had come under attack and "they have a right to defend themselves". Asked whether the coalition had coordinated the action with the United States, he said Saudi Arabia and the US had a defense agreement but gave no more details, The Guardian reported.
• The defence pact. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday "to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defense commitments" of their Makkah Alliance for Defense, and to provide "the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom", according to the joint statement published by Turkey's foreign ministry. The statement condemned "the attempted targeting of Makkah and Madinah" and attacks on Saudi cities. It did not name the Houthis, and it did not say which forces would go, how many, or where. Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman said the deployment was a response "to the attacks and all those responsible for them", Al Jazeera reported. The pact was signed on 7 August and treats an attack on one member as an attack on all. Al Jazeera reported that no action had been taken under it until now.

What is claimed but not verified

• Control of the strait. Government military spokesman Majed al-Nuzaili said the Giants Brigades and the National Shield Forces had taken control of Bab al-Mandeb, according to Arab News and The National. Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told Reuters that government forces had secured effective control of the strait. Another government source told Reuters that fighting continued at a military base near the strait.
• Mayun (Perim) island. Al Arabiya, citing sources familiar with the developments, reported that Houthi fighters were surrounded on Mayun (Perim) island in the strait, according to Ahram Online and Arab News. We found no confirmed report that government forces hold the island.
• Houthi fighters cut off. Al-Nuzaili said hundreds of Houthi fighters were surrounded in Dhubab and called on to surrender, and that some fled by boat, The National reported. The Guardian reported that footage appeared to back up claims of Houthis retreating along the shore.
• Target and strike counts. The coalition said it destroyed 324 "high-value" targets, according to Saba. Yemen's military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes, AFP reported. In a post on X cited by Arab News, al-Nuzaili gave a figure of 1,122 targeting operations. No independent damage count has been published.
• The Houthi account. The Houthis called the government's claims "completely untrue", Reuters reported.

Pressure from the other side

• Taiz. On Sunday the Houthis effectively encircled the city of Taiz after cutting the main supply route linking it to Aden, the government's interim capital, AFP reported. Five government military sources told Reuters that the Houthis had gained sections of a mountain road, leaving government forces in Taiz besieged. One government source denied that the road had been cut. Five government military sources told Reuters the Houthis had also advanced into the town of al-Turbah, on the road; another government source denied this. Taiz is Yemen's third-largest city, with a population of over half a million, Reuters reported. Sources from both sides told AFP that fighting in and around Taiz province killed more than 70 people in a day: government sources said 34 government troops were killed, and Houthi military sources said 39 of their fighters were killed, The Guardian reported.
• Saudi airspace. The Houthis' agency that liaises with airlines warned that Saudi airspace was not safe for civilian flights, as it "will be the theatre of operations of our armed forces", AFP reported. It made exceptions for the skies over Mecca and Medina.
• Saudi oil. The Houthis said they hit Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area on Sunday, the BBC reported. Saudi Arabia had not commented on that claim, the BBC said. A Saudi energy-sector source told AFP that an attack on Sunday had again halted pumping on the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea.
• Shipping. On 4 October a tanker reported multiple explosions close to it 60 nautical miles south of Al Mukha (Mocha), the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said. The crew were reported safe. The Joint Maritime Information Center's advisory note of the same day, issued before Monday's advance, rated the threat in the southern Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb as "SUBSTANTIAL". It listed Mocha, Dhubab and Mayun/Perim as under Houthi control.
• Civilians. The UN migration agency said on Monday that 184,000 people had been displaced since the war resumed, Reuters reported.

What we infer (not a finding)

• This is a declared bid to reverse September, with Saudi air power in the open. A truce agreed in 2022 held until this summer and collapsed in July, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera. Since then, the Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia and the Saudis have hit back with air strikes, Axios reported. In the reporting we reviewed, we found no earlier case since the truce of the government declaring an offensive to retake all Houthi-held territory, with coalition jets publicly flying in support. Its first target is the coast that gave the Houthis a hold on the strait.
• Holding the coast is not the same as safe passage. Reuters noted that even if the government retakes the coast near the strait, the Houthis could still attack ships with drones from positions further up the coast and inland. We expect ship operators and insurers to keep treating the strait as high-risk until there is a stretch without incidents, not just a change in who holds Dhubab. We found no new insurance pricing for this week.
• Saudi cities and oil sites are the likely Houthi reply. We reported on Houthi strikes on four Saudi cities on 8 September, and the Houthis have claimed strikes on Aramco sites this weekend. Al-Maliki has accused them of attacks on Riyadh, Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, Najran, Taif and Yanbu, Ahram Online reported. A wider air campaign raises the chance of more of these strikes. The airspace warning extends the threat, at least in words, to civilian air travel.
• Pakistan and Turkey are now committed on paper. This is the first time the three countries have moved to put the pact into practice, by Al Jazeera's account. Al Jazeera noted that analysts saw Pakistan and Turkey as keen to keep acting as mediators of the US-Iran conflict. Sending forces to defend Saudi Arabia makes that role harder to hold, though the statement leaves open whether those forces would ever fight in Yemen.
• Taiz is the counterweight. The government is advancing on the coast while the Houthis close in on Taiz. If Taiz stays cut off, the government may have to move forces inland. That would test whether coastal gains can be held.

What we don't know

• Who holds Dhubab, Mocha and Mayun island now. The claims come from the government and the coalition. The Houthis deny them.
• The human cost since Sunday. Beyond each side's figures for Taiz, we found no independent count of deaths among civilians or fighters.
• What the Makkah Alliance deployment means in practice. The joint statement gives no numbers, units, locations or mission.
• Which aircraft and which air forces took part. We have not seen the coalition name aircraft types or the countries flying.
• Whether the Taiz–Aden road is fully cut. Government sources disagree.
• Whether the United States will join. US officials told Axios that could change if the operation runs into problems.
• Whether shipping through the strait changes. We found no new traffic data for this week.

What to watch

• Independent confirmation of who holds Dhubab, Mocha and Mayun: journalists on the ground, verified footage, or the next JMIC advisory note.
• UKMTO incident reports near Bab al-Mandeb and the southern Red Sea.
• Houthi missile or drone strikes on Saudi cities, oil sites or airports, and any action on the airspace warning.
• The Taiz–Aden road, and whether the government diverts forces to Taiz.
• The Makkah Alliance deployment: which Pakistani and Turkish forces arrive in Saudi Arabia, where they are based, and whether their role stays inside the kingdom.

Context

Our earlier reports on this coast and on the Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia: They took Mocha. The strait is twenty kilometers., They took Mayun. The mouth of the strait., They named four Saudi cities. Seventy-three were wounded. and France will send troops to Yanbu. The oil route needed cover.

Sources

• Saba (Yemen's state news agency), "Yemeni Armed Forces Liberate Dhubab District After Clashes with Houthi Militias", 5 October 2026: sabanew.net.
• Saba, "Yemen Coalition Says 324 High-Value Targets Destroyed in Yemen Dawn Operation", 5 October 2026: sabanew.net.
• UK Maritime Trade Operations, UKMTO Warning 151-26 (suspicious activity), 4 October 2026: ukmto.org.
• Joint Maritime Information Center, Advisory Note, Update 102, 4 October 2026: ukmto.org.
• Reuters, "Yemeni government forces advance to Bab el-Mandeb Strait", 5 October 2026: al-monitor.com (Reuters copy).
• Reuters, "Yemeni government forces drive Houthis from Bab el-Mandeb Strait", 5 October 2026: streetinsider.com (Reuters copy).
• AFP, "Yemen, Saudi Arabia strike Houthis as counteroffensive gets underway", 5 October 2026: al-monitor.com (AFP copy).
• The Guardian, "Air campaign against Houthis under way in Yemen, says Saudi-led coalition", 5 October 2026: theguardian.com.
• Al Jazeera, "Yemeni forces reclaim Dhubab, key positions near Bab al-Mandeb from Houthis", 5 October 2026: aljazeera.com.
• Al Jazeera, "Yemeni gov't forces aim for Sanaa, but Houthi defeat will be a challenge", 5 October 2026: aljazeera.com.
• The National, "Yemeni forces claim control of Bab Al Mandeb strait and Mokha in major offensive against Houthis", 5 October 2026: thenationalnews.com.
• Arab News, "Yemeni forces gain control of Bab Al-Mandab, Mokha in operation targeting Houthis", 5 October 2026: arabnews.com.
• Ahram Online, "Yemeni forces seize Bab al-Mandab Strait as coalition deploys 100 jets, reports 324 Houthi targets destroyed", 5 October 2026: english.ahram.org.eg.
• BBC News, "Yemen's government announces all-out war to reclaim land from Houthis", 4 October 2026: bbc.co.uk.
• Al Arabiya, "Operation 'Dawn of Yemen': Govt forces control Bab al-Mandeb, Sanaa offensive begins", 5 October 2026: english.alarabiya.net.
• Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Joint Statement on the Emergency Meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee of the Makkah Alliance for Defense, 5 October 2026": mfa.gov.tr.
• Al Jazeera, "Turkiye, Pakistan agree Saudi Arabia military deployment under Mecca pact", 5 October 2026: aljazeera.com.
• The Guardian, "Saudi-backed forces recapture key areas around strait from Houthis in Yemen", 5 October 2026: theguardian.com.
• Axios, "Saudis plan major offensive against the Houthis, but U.S. won't join for now", 2 October 2026: axios.com.

The coast may change hands this week. Whether ships and Saudi oil sites are any safer is a separate question.