Saudi-backed Yemeni forces say they have secured Bab al-Mandab Strait

Saudi-backed Yemeni pro-government forces said they had 'secured' the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, at the start of a major offensive launched on Monday 5 October, the BBC reported. The Yemeni military said in a statement that its forces captured the Red Sea city of Mokha on Monday afternoon with the help of Saudi air strikes. France 24 reported the government said forces staged a lightning advance, pushing the Iran-backed Houthis out of most of the areas they seized last month. The offensive was launched by the pro-government National Shield, Giants Brigades and Tihama Resistance forces in south-western Yemen, according to the BBC.

Accounts of how far forces advanced differed. Unnamed Yemeni government and military sources told Reuters and AFP that forces had reached only the outskirts of Mokha; four government sources told Reuters this happened late on Monday and that Houthi fighters were retreating. Government military sources told AFP they would not confirm the capture of the city, but said: 'Our forces took control of the Dhubab military airfield and cut the road linking the Dhubab district to the Bab al-Mandab area.' The Yemeni military earlier said its forces had seized Dhubab airport, 45km (27 miles) to the south, and were besieging Houthi fighters inside the nearby town.

Houthi-run media cited a Houthi military source as rejecting the claims as 'Saudi propaganda' and saying the group remained in control of Dhubab, Bab al-Mandab and the Kahboub mountains near the coast. The Houthis denied losing Bab al-Mandab and Mokha and said they had struck Riyadh's airport and other locations in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the air strikes. Saudi Arabia condemned the attacks and reiterated calls for the UN Security Council's permanent members to support Yemen's internationally recognised government.

A Saudi-led military coalition said its fighter jets were providing 'round-the-clock' air support and had destroyed 324 'high-value' targets since the offensive began. Saudi air strikes killed a schoolgirl and a woman in the Sanhan and Saawan districts of Sanaa on Monday, according to Houthi-run Al Masirah TV. Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said Saudi Arabia was committing 'dozens of massacres' and must 'bear all the consequences'. The Houthi-run Humanitarian Operations Co-ordination Centre warned civilian airlines that Saudi airspace, except above Mecca and Medina, was no longer safe.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned 'the continued Houthi cross-border attacks' on Saudi Arabia and said he was 'deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting', in a statement to AFP. Turkey and Pakistan, allies of Saudi Arabia, held an emergency meeting in Riyadh and agreed to rapidly deploy military forces to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, according to a statement shared by Pakistan's foreign ministry. The government said operations had also begun on other fronts on Monday, including the capital, Sanaa.