Clashes between Yemen’s Houthis and government forces have killed 81, military and medical sources said on Friday, as the rebels push towards territory bordering a chokepoint in the strategic Red Sea.

Fighting erupted on Thursday, after the Houthis launched a ground assault along with rocket and drone attacks near coastal areas, vying for control of the narrow Bab al-Mandeb strait at the Red Sea’s southern entrance.

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi ships in recent weeks in the Red Sea, which has emerged as an alternative route for oil exports after Iran all but halted shipments from the Gulf by blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

The rebels are now trying to cement their hold over one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which they have disrupted with attacks on passing vessels since the Gaza war broke out in 2023.

The Houthi offensive aims to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandeb, military sources told AFP.

The rebels have seized elevated sites overlooking government positions near the Red Sea, the coastal town of Khokha and Taiz city further inland, a military source and a Taiz official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The Houthis could target ships from these elevated positions, they said.

A military official on the coast said 24 of his men had been killed, while another in the Taiz area said 15 had died there. At least 42 Houthi fighters were also killed, according to medical sources in areas under their control.

Reinforcements sent

The Houthis want to control the hills overlooking Bab al-Mandeb and Mokha before attacking the coast, a Yemeni official in Aden, the government’s base since it was ousted from the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

The government has sent reinforcements to Taiz from Aden, the official said.

With Iran’s closure of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint has gained increased importance as a transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude.

The narrow waterway connects the Red Sea — and, via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean — to the Indian Ocean.

Although the Houthis do not control areas bordering Bab al-Mandeb, they hold the key port city of Hodeida north of Mokha.

In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and the government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.

They later announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships and territory as Yemen, following more than a decade of civil conflict, became the latest country drawn into the Middle East war.