The president of the Presidential Leadership Council of Yemen, Rashad al-Alimi, today promised to recover the coast of the Red Sea, following the advances of Huthis rebels in the port city of Mocha and towards the narrow strategic of Bab al-Mandab.
© SALEH AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images
17/09/2026
by
Lusa
“ O State and its Armed Forces are fully able to resume the initiative on the western coast,” Al-Alimi said during a meeting in Saudi Arabia with French ambassador to Yemen, Catherine Corm-Kammoun.
The head of the internationally recognized government stated that government forces are repositioning and receiving reinforcements in order to recover the lost territories.
According to YemenTV, the Army maintains operations on several fronts, focusing mainly on the strategic provinces of Taiz and Marib, but also on Lahj, Al-Jawf, Hajjah, Al-Bayda and Al-Dhalea, in the face of the Huthi offensive supported by Iran.
The statements arise after the rebels took Moka last week on the Red Sea coast and advanced toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as well as taking control of several islands.
The offensive and intensification of the war in Yemen increased the security concerns of Bab al-Mandab, one of the main maritime passages of international trade, at a time when traffic remains blocked in the Strait of Ormuz.
The advances of the Huthis forced government forces to reorganize, while Saudi Arabia, the leading supporter of the Yemeni government, intensified air operations against rebel positions.
However, at least three children died and several people were injured today in an attack attributed to the Saudi-led military coalition against the Taiz province, according to the Huthis-controlled SABA agency.
According to the agency, the attack hit Tarira, in Waziya district, also causing damage to various dwellings.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at least nine children have died since the start of the new escalation of hostilities.
The Huthis launched on September 3 an offensive in western Yemen which, according to UNICEF, is immersing more than 12 million children in the crisis.
The new combats also caused a wave of displacements of tens of thousands of people and increased concern about the humanitarian consequences of military operations on coastal communities and major transport routes.