Yemen’s prime minister visits Bab al-Mandab straight

Government forces in Yemen now control the key Bab al-Mandab Strait through which much of the world’s maritime traffic passes after retaking it from the Houthis, Yemeni military officials and a general involved in the offensive said on Friday.

Yemeni government spokesperson Rageh Badi told The National that a short military operation by Yemen’s army and anti-Houthi resistance fighters expelled the rebels from the area and also freed Mayoon island, situated in the strait.

Friday’s fighting in the strategic area has killed 46 fighters and wounded dozens so far from both sides of the conflict, added the officials – who remain neutral in the war that divided the country.

Bab Al-Mandab was “brought under our control with the help of coalition forces, who provided ground, naval and air support”, Gen. Ahmed said.

The Houthis have acknowledged that they lost the strategic strait.

Medical officials in nearby Taiz said at least 14 dead bodies from Houthi forces arrived from the front lines.

The Saudi-led campaign seized Aden and other southern provinces from the Houthis in July but has struggled to take over other population centers and cement their authority in the increasingly lawless region. The Houthis have been in control of the capital Sanaa since last September and are at war with the internationally recognized government as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists.

At least 38 people have been killed, including eight children, and dozens more injured as a result of a suspected coalition airstrike at a wedding hall in southwest Yemen.

Leading a military coalition, Riyadh has been launching deadly air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement since March 26 in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former president, Mansour Hadi.

A European-backed resolution calling for a United Nations investigation into rights abuses committed during the conflict was withdrawn this week due to pressure from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, which was totally opposed to such a probe, introduced its own watered-down proposal on Yemen, which instead supported a domestic probe.