Western Yemen Coast: Iran Leads the Houthi Battle as the Muslim Brotherhood Paved the Way to Mokha and Bab el-Mandeb (Exclusive)
Recent fighting in Yemen has shown that Iran continues to directly lead and manage the Houthis’ military operations, while the Muslim Brotherhood has paved the way for their expansion toward Mokha and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis launched fighting along Yemen’s western coast on August 9 and expanded its scope on September 3 through a military arc stretching from Al-Kadha, west of Taiz, to Hays, south of Hodeidah.
According to military sources, the Houthis mobilized more than 60,000 fighters, including thousands of mercenaries from Somalia and Eritrea, from three military regions, under Iran’s direct supervision, with the aim of reaching the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
5 Combat Formations
The sources explained that the Houthi militias initially launched an attack on the Al-Kadha front axis through intense missile and artillery bombardment that continued for nearly an entire month before deploying five combat formations to advance on the ground.
During this period, the sources said that the Victory Brigade, affiliated with Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood and responsible for the security and military belt in the western rural areas of Taiz, did not reinforce its positions, which ultimately contributed to their collapse, particularly along the Al-Tuwair axis of the Al-Kadha front.
The sources noted that the militias exploited a gap in the Al-Tuwair area of the Al-Kadha front and advanced through it toward strategic villages and high ground in Jabal Habashi, Al-Maafir, and Maqbanah, as a first stage aimed at securing their rear and advancing toward the Al-Wazi’iyah district, which directly overlooks the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
They confirmed that, in a second phase, the Houthi militias intensified their offensive through the Al-Barh axis adjacent to Al-Kadha in order to reach the Mokha junction. At the same time, they continued advancing through Al-Wazi’iyah to rapidly reach the Kahboub Mountains as a third stage, before moving to the final stage by launching a multi-axis attack on the city of Mokha, located 80 kilometers from Bab el-Mandeb.
Muslim Brotherhood Rivalries
Commenting on the Houthi breakthroughs along the western coastal fronts, an informed military source said that the militias had exploited the collapse of Al-Tuwair on the Al-Kadha front to establish a supply line through the villages of Al-Rahba in Jabal Habashi, before carrying out a broad flanking maneuver to the west of the combat front.
The source explained that forces considered aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood are still deployed on the Al-Kadha front. They had remained embroiled in disputes over the field command of the front and had failed to launch a swift counterattack against the positions captured by the militias, giving them enough time to bring in reinforcements and launch an offensive eastward toward the strategic Mount Nu’man and westward toward mountains overlooking the Al-Wazi’iyah district.
The source confirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood’s laxity on the Al-Kadha front had paved the way for the militias’ advance and quickly affected the other fronts in nearby Al-Barh and Al-Wazi’iyah, allowing the militias to deploy their offensive combat formations toward the western coast.
Along the Hodeidah axes, the Houthi militias continued to apply pressure through the advanced Hays axis, relying on their firepower and numerical superiority. They attacked the operational area of each battalion with roughly an entire brigade, resulting in the exhaustion of the National Resistance forces and the Southern Giants Brigades.
The Houthi militias also quickly opened a front at Al-Hamli and advanced toward the Khalid bin al-Walid camp in an attempt to outflank the forces advancing in Hays. According to the source, this caused significant confusion among the National Resistance and Giants Brigades forces and prompted them to redeploy their troops toward Al-Khokha and then Mokha.
