File image.
Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) released two videos on October 10 showing attacks on Saudi-backed forces near the country’s southwestern coast and claiming the group had secured additional territory in Taiz province.
The first video, published by the Houthis’ military media, showed recent strikes with “Shawaz” first-person suicide quadcopters.
The strikes targeted military vehicles and gatherings of Saudi-backed fighters at several locations in the Kahbub Mountains and al-Waziyah district along the far southern end of Yemen’s southwestern coast.
A second video, released separately, showed Houthi fighters advancing in the districts of Sama, As Silw and al-Mawasit in Taiz.
The footage also showed groups of Saudi-backed fighters surrendering to the Houthis and laying down their weapons in line with a general amnesty announced the previous month by Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council.
The three districts lie in the rural south and southeast of Taiz city, on a front distinct from the fighting along the Red Sea coast. Their reported capture comes amid the Houthis’ wider advance around Taiz, where the group has managed to cut the city off from other government-held areas.
Al Jazeera reported on October 10 that the capture of al-Turbah by October 4 had severed the main road linking Taiz city with government-held territory.
The coastal footage appeared amid continued fighting over access to the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Saudi-backed forces said on October 9 that they had retaken the strait’s surrounding coastal areas and Mayyun Island, which lies within the waterway. Ansar Allah military spokesman Yahya Saree, however, said the group had repelled an advance from Lahj province and claimed more than 22 armored vehicles had been destroyed.
All in all, the Houthis maintain the upper hand both in Bab al-Mandab and in Taiz. Saudi-backed forces appear to be taking heavy losses, and their chances of regaining the initiative are getting slimmer by the day.
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