Saudi-backed Yemeni forces say they've pushed Houthi fighters out of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Turkey and Pakistan have agreed to send troops to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca mutual-defense pact, just as Washington builds up carrier strength in the Gulf.
Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claimed control of ground around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait this week as Red Sea shipping risk rose alongside stalled US-Iran talks on Hormuz. Source
The most consequential move in the Middle East this week didn't come from Washington. It came from Saudi-backed Yemeni forces, who on October 5 claimed to have driven Houthi fighters out of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and chased them into retreat from the port city of Mokha, reversing weeks of Houthi gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast. What matters here isn't the ground retaken. It's who retook it: a Gulf-organized campaign, not a US carrier escort, doing the job of reopening a chokepoint Washington has spent two years failing to pacify from the sea.
