• Yemeni forces take control of Mocha port, key positions along Bab al-Mandeb with Saudi air support
• Houthis advance on Taiz; attacks damage East-West oil pipeline east of Riyadh
• Rubio backs Saudi right to self-defence
• Multiple tankers struck by projectiles in Hormuz; another returns after warning

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Makkah defence pact announced their intention to begin rapid force deployment, aimed at enhancing Saudi Arabia’s “readiness, military integration, and the collective capacity to confront and counter threats”.

The announcement came as the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government claimed recapturing the key Red Sea port of Mocha, amid its bid to retake control of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Meanwhile, fighting between the government forces and Houthi militia raged in other parts of the country.

Government forces advanced rapidly along the coast with heavy Saudi air support to seize key positions in the Dhubab area on the narrowest point of the strait, a vital oil route whose seizure by the Iran-backed Houthis last month sent shockwaves through energy markets.

The offensive came against the backdrop of a meeting of the Makkah Defence Alliance in Riyadh, which convened in the Saudi capital to take stock of the Houthi attacks on the kingdom.

Military spokesman Lt Col Majid Abdullah al-Nuzayli said the pro-government forces had “successfully taken control of Bab al-Mandeb”. In a series of statements, he said that government forces also took control of Dhubab airport and cut off the road between Dhubab and Mocha. Hundreds of Houthi fighters have been surrounded in the Dhubab area, he said, adding that some Houthi fighters later fled by boat via the sea.

The government offensive was announced on Sunday to recapture territory, with Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi swearing to fight “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia”.

Saudi Arabia, which arms and trains Yemeni government forces, is backing the military campaign with air power and has sought logistical help from allies to push back the Houthis, restore free traffic in the Red Sea, and end the group’s attacks on its territory. Riyadh said on Monday it had attacked hundreds of targets in Yemen to provide air cover for the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Yemeni ground forces.

“100 fighter jets participated at dawn today in Operation ‘Dawn of Yemen’,” Saudi-led coalition spokesman Major Gen Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, using the name for the new offensive announced on Sunday.

The Houthi-run health ministry said two people had been killed and seven wounded in strikes on Sanhan and Sa’wan districts in Sanaa province. The renewed fighting has worsened a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with the UN migration agency saying on Monday that some 184,000 people had now been displaced since the war resumed.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that Saudi Arabia has a right to defend itself against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Al Jazeera reported.

“Obviously the Saudis have come under Houthi attack … and they have a right to defend themselves”, he said, adding that neither Riyadh nor Yemen’s internationally recognised government was “in favour of [Houthi] control in that territory”. Mr Rubio also stressed that the US intended to honour the security agreement it had with Saudi Arabia.

Fighting around Taiz

While the war has raged on several frontlines in Yemen, the heaviest fighting has been in the southwest, both in the coastal area near the strait and in the hills around Taiz, where the Houthis have been battling to surround government forces. Last week Houthi attacks damaged a culvert on the Taiz-Aden road, making it impassable. On Sunday night, the fighters made new advances into the town of al-Turbah, sitting atop a high promontory on the road, five government military sources said, though another government source denied this.

A Houthi-run news agency on Monday cited a military source as saying the group had driven government forces from the al-Mawasit district of Taiz province, reaching the home of Alimi, head of Yemen’s interim presidential council. Taiz, nestled among Yemen’s southern highlands, has been on the frontlines since early in the civil war, often under Houthi shell and sniper fire.

Attack on oil supply

A Houthi attack on the Saudi energy infrastructure damaged the East-West pipeline, AFP reported. “A pumping station east of Riyadh in Khurais. It wasn’t targeted before. There was big damage and the pipeline stopped again,” the report, citing a source, said. The information came a day after the Iran-backed Houthis said they targeted sites in Saudi Arabia belonging to state oil giant Aramco, including infrastructure in Khurais. The East-West pipeline has been targeted multiple times after war erupted across the Middle East following US-Israeli strikes on Iran. In September, it remained shut for almost 11 days.

A government source denied the oil pipeline halted operations.

Makkah alliance meeting

Meanwhile in Riyadh, members of the Makkah Defence Alliance affirmed that the alliance embodied a firm commitment to collective defence and a unified position in confronting threats, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

The committee decided to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defence commitments and to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom, in accordance with the approved arrangements and the national legislation of the parties.

The members affirmed that the security of each member was an integral part of the collective security of the three countries, and that translating the Makkah defence pact into practical measures demonstrated the credibility of the commitment to collective defence, the statement added. It also strengthened the effectiveness of deterrence, and reaffirmed the unity and determination of the three countries to defend their security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement.

The parties also condemned in the strongest terms the attempted targeting of Makkah and Madinah, as well as the continuing attacks targeting cities and civilian and economic facilities in the Kingdom, reaffirming their unequivocal rejection of any attack or threat against the Kingdom’s security and territorial integrity.

As part of the institutional development of the Makkah Alliance for Defence, the committee decided to appoint retired Lt Gen Nauman Mahmood as the first secretary general for a three-year term. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir represented Paki­stan at the meeting.

Hormuz vessels

Multiple vessels were struck by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz on October 4 and October 3, while another tanker was forced to turn back after a warning by the Iranian Guards. An AFP report citing the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz inbound was hailed by the IRGC and instructed to turn back, or the vessel would be targeted. “The master of the tanker has confirmed that they have complied with the instruction,” the UKMTO said, adding that the ship was entering the strait near the Omani coastline.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2026