The latest:
Government-aligned Southern Forces have abandoned Dhubab airport and the Bab al-Mandab area west of Taiz province, in what their command described Sunday as a repositioning toward Aden. The statement tied the move to threats against the interim capital and to continued efforts to break the siege of Taiz. Reuters reported the withdrawal leaves Houthi fighters in positions overlooking the strait.
Details:
- The withdrawal: The Southern Armed Forces, part of the internationally recognized government and led by presidential council member Abdulrahman al-Muharrami Abu Zaraa, announced the repositioning of units from Dhubab airport and Bab al-Mandab, calling it a redeployment required by the current stage, not an abandonment of the fight.
- The stated reason: The command said priority now goes to securing Aden and neighboring provinces and strengthening front lines. It cited military developments and troop build-ups aimed at Aden, and pledged to continue operations to lift the siege on Taiz.
- The military spokesman: Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili, spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces, called liberating Bab al-Mandab and the western coast an inherent right of the armed forces, urging the international community to contribute given the strait’s importance to world trade.
- Shipping stakes: According to Reuters, the pullback gives the Houthis greater control over the narrow waterway used for Asia-Europe cargo via the Suez Canal, adding to pressure on global shipping while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, further isolating Gulf oil producers from their main export routes.
- Advance near Aden: Agence France-Presse reported on 14 November, citing three Yemeni military officials, that government forces began fortifying positions west and north of Aden after Houthis seized strategic heights in al-Madaribah and Ras al-Arah districts overlooking the province.
- The air war: Al-Nuzaili said Saturday evening that forces carried out 723 strikes and targeting operations in recent hours, including 37 air strikes, 56 drone strikes, 89 rocket salvos and 541 artillery engagements, claiming roughly 321 Houthi commanders and fighters killed or wounded and about 117 vehicles destroyed.
- Houthi claims: Military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of 72 air strikes in 24 hours on Saada, Taiz, Lahj and al-Jawf, and said a Saudi CH-4 drone was downed over al-Jawf. The Houthis also alleged Saudi shelling in Sanaa wounded two women and two children.
- Toward Saudi Arabia: Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at Riyadh before dawn Sunday, alongside three drones over the Eastern Province. Saudi civil defense issued an early warning in Riyadh, then announced the danger had passed.
- Civilian toll: State news agency Saba reported six civilians wounded, including two children and two women, by Houthi shelling and sniper fire in Taiz province on Saturday. The International Organization for Migration recorded more than 334,000 people displaced by the escalation as of 10 November.
- The campaign: Government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition launched Operation Yemen Dawn on 5 October, after a Houthi escalation that began in July and ended the relative calm following the United Nations-brokered truce of April 2022.
Background:
Yemen has been at war since 2014, when the Houthis pushed the government south. The group holds most of the north, including Sanaa. In September it drove toward the Red Sea coast, reaching close to Bab al-Mandab, prompting an October government counter-campaign.
Between the lines:
A Chatham House analysis published in September 2026 argued Houthi gains on Yemen’s coast strengthen the group’s ability to influence shipping through Bab al-Mandab, and linked that to disruption at Hormuz — leaving Iran and its allies able to squeeze two major waterways at once. Read against the Lahj advances and the fortification of Aden’s approaches, the repositioning trades coastal leverage for the defense of the government’s last administrative center.
What’s next
Watch whether Houthi forces move from the Lahj heights toward Aden’s outskirts, whether government operations to lift the Taiz siege advance, and whether shipping insurers adjust Red Sea transit after the Bab al-Mandab shift.
