Yemen’s deputy defence minister: The first phase of the offensive against the Houthis will focus on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the port of Mokha

Yemen’s Deputy Defence Minister, Major General Samir Al-Sabri, has stated that the first phase of the internationally recognised government’s military operation against the Houthi rebels will focus on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the port city of Mokha, as Al Jazeera reports.

“We seek to restore state authority in all of Yemen’s governorates. We expect the liberation operations to proceed smoothly and easily in the near future,” Al-Sabri told Al Jazeera, adding that the army has launched coordinated counter-attacks and the government aims to accelerate efforts to extend its authority.

The statement comes on the day when the chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, announced the launch of the operation “Dawn of Yemen” to liberate the capital Sanaa from the Houthis. The Yemeni armed forces’ spokesman said Houthi fighters have withdrawn from areas along the Red Sea coast after ground troops, with air support, engaged them — the coastal city of Dhubab in the Taiz governorate is now in the army’s hands.

According to reporting by Al Jazeera‘s correspondent, Osama Bin Javaid, from Doha, the Yemeni army seeks to force the Houthis to fight on several fronts at once, so that they cannot concentrate on a single area and try to retake the strategic Red Sea coast. The offensive also gives weight to today’s meeting in Riyadh of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement — the pact energised by Houthi attacks on Saudi territory.

Bab al-Mandeb, the narrow strait linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, is one of the most critical routes of international trade, and the Iran-backed Houthis have turned it into a tool of pressure and threat during the widened regional war.