Houthis seize Red Sea ports and push for mountain strongholds as US aborts planned air strikes

Fighting intensified on Monday as Houthi forces, which captured the Red Sea port of Mocha and Mayyun Island earlier this month, moved to seize the Kahboub Mountains in Taiz and Lahj provinces. Control of the heights would give the Iran-aligned rebels a strategic view of the Bab al-Mandeb strait and could cut off the coastal supply route held by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

"Since the Houthis entered Mocha and seized control of the port and later took Mayyun Island, they have been trying to advance into the mountains or make gains that would allow them to secure their rear," reported Al Jazeera correspondent Maha Ali from Taiz. "Kahboub is now the main battlefield. It may remain so in the coming days given the mountain’s strategic importance and its oversight of Mayyun Island."

The clashes have killed at least 674 people and injured nearly 3,000 since early August, according to the World Health Organization, and have forced more than 158,000 residents to flee their homes across eight governorates. Yemen’s Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons Camps said roughly 23,550 families are now in temporary shelters.

The United Nations warned that the continued violence threatens to deepen the humanitarian crisis, with half of Yemen’s 36 million population already facing acute food shortages. World Food Programme acting director Carl Skau said tens of thousands are arriving at overstretched camps with little assistance, noting that Yemen imports 90 percent of its food and that disruptions to ports exacerbate insecurity.

In parallel, U.S. media reported that President Donald Trump had ordered air strikes against the Houthis on Sunday but cancelled them at the last minute, even as bombs were being loaded onto aircraft. The New York Times linked the aborted operation to pressure from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has repeatedly urged U.S. involvement.

Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi warned the United States against joining a joint escalation with Saudi Arabia, saying regional circumstances had preoccupied the U.S. and Israel, creating a problem for Saudi Arabia’s campaign against the Yemeni people. He also urged Pakistan and Turkey, both allied with Saudi Arabia, not to intervene.

"Regional circumstances have kept the US and Israel somewhat preoccupied, creating a problem for the Saudi regime, which seeks their participation in its aggression and blockade against the Yemeni people," the Houthi leader said.

Analysts noted that the reported U.S. reversal reflects reluctance to open another front while American forces are already stretched thin in other theaters. "President Trump was put in a very difficult position of whether to come to the aid of a world leader he is trying to garner good relations with, but also whether to add another very difficult dimension militarily in a region where the US is already pretty bogged down," said Jason Campbell, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

Yemeni government forces said they struck Houthi positions near the Bab al-Mandeb strait and in al-Bayda governorate, and claimed to have shot down a Houthi drone in southwestern Taiz. The Houthis, meanwhile, reported that Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 air attacks across four provinces on Monday, killing at least one civilian, and that a separate strike in Mocha killed six civilians, including two children and a woman.