By: Gavin Thorne – SeaPRwire – Two claims landed on the same day. Yemeni government forces say they have retaken the Red Sea port of Mocha. They also say they hold the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis say the fight for the strait continues. At the same moment Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey activated a collective defence mechanism and agreed to place forces inside the kingdom. The winter shipping lane and the air-defence map of western Saudi Arabia are now the same problem.
On 5 October Yemeni government forces stated that after heavy fighting they had recaptured Mocha, the Red Sea port city in Taiz province, from Houthi control. Military sources reported clashes around the city, Houthi casualties, some captured and some who fled. Clearing operations were under way. The same side earlier claimed a “strategic offensive” against Sanaa. The Houthis issued no immediate reply. Earlier on the same day government units said they had advanced from several directions into the Zubab area of Taiz, recovered positions and taken control of the international shipping channel through the Bab el-Mandeb. Houthi statements insisted the contest for the strait was still open. The day before, Yemeni officials had reported that Houthis controlled several key zones in Taiz and had cut the main road linking Taiz to the government’s temporary seat in Aden. Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki announced that one hundred fighter aircraft took part that morning in the “Yemen Dawn” operation and destroyed three hundred and twenty-four high-value targets. Coalition naval forces operated in Hodeidah province against Houthi military sites, including weapon depots, storage for explosive-laden boats and naval mines, and said they had disrupted a planned attack on the southern Red Sea waterway. The Houthis answered with three rounds of strikes on Saudi targets using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. They listed King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Saudi Aramco refinery at Rabigh on the Red Sea, Abha airport, the Khamis Mushait base, military camps in Asir and sensitive sites in Najran and Jizan. They claimed Saudi forces had conducted sixty air and missile strikes in the previous twenty-four hours on Sanaa, Jawf, Taiz, Hodeidah, Saada and Marib, producing civilian casualties that included women and children. Since the escalation began in early September the Houthis put the cumulative Saudi air and missile strikes at one thousand five hundred and seventy-six. On the same day Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey held an emergency session of the Mecca Defence Alliance Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Riyadh. Their joint statement activated the collective defence mechanism and agreed to deploy military forces inside Saudi Arabia. The committee said it would immediately implement the collective defence commitments and provide the necessary guarantees so that the agreed forces and capabilities could be deployed rapidly under the approved arrangements and each member’s domestic law. The purpose was stated as raising readiness, military integration and the three parties’ joint ability to respond to and deter threats. The statement strongly condemned attempts to target Mecca and Medina and the continuing attacks on Saudi cities, civilian and economic facilities. It rejected any violation or threat to Saudi security and territorial integrity. The three countries had signed the Mecca Common Defence Agreement on 7 August, under which an armed attack on any one is treated as an attack on all three. Their military leaders had met in Riyadh on 25 September and condemned Houthi strikes on Saudi territory.
The practical indicators are now physical. Confirm whether government forces hold the port facilities and the road exits from Mocha for more than forty-eight hours. Confirm whether any Pakistani or Turkish units appear at the agreed Saudi locations in the coming days. Those two facts will show whether the claims on the ground and the collective-defence declaration have moved beyond statements.
Author bio: Gavin Thorne, senior researcher at an independent European strategic think tank tracking Red Sea maritime security and Gulf collective-defence arrangements.
source https://newsroom.seaprwire.com/press-releases/policy-analysis/mocha-is-claimed-the-strait-is-still-contested/