SANA’A — Yemen’s Armed Forces and Ansarullah on Saturday moved to consolidate their sweeping victories across the western coast as Saudi Arabia desperately launched airstrikes against positions around the newly liberated city of Al-Mokha, while Sana’a announced the release of hundreds of prisoners and warned Saudi Arabia against attempting to reverse its battlefield defeat.
The Saturday fighting came after Ansarullah forces completed the liberation of Al-Mokha and a chain of western coastal districts and seized the Yemeni islands overlooking the Bab al-Mandab. 
The latest advances have driven the Saudi-backed formations from major positions across the western front and placed Ansarullah in control of one of the world’s most strategic waterways.
On Saturday morning, Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes against Yemeni forces and their gatherings in and around Al-Mokha, according to reports from the western front. 
The strikes targeted areas around the port city and the road linking Al-Mokha with Dhubab, as the Saudi mercenaries attempted to regroup after their rapid collapse across the coastal front.
But the battlefield reality remained heavily tilted in favor of Sanaa.
Ansarullah’s operation, which began on Sept. 3, had already broken through the Saudi-backed defensive system across six districts of Ta’izz and Hudaydah provinces. 
Yemeni military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the operation covered about 5,400 square kilometers and struck seven Saudi-backed mercenary formations comprising 38 brigades. 
Sana’a said the operation has resulted in the deaths, wounding or capture of hundreds of Saudi mercenaries and the destruction or seizure of military equipment.
The capture of Al-Mokha and the surrounding areas has also severed major supply routes used by the Saudi-backed forces along the western coast. Reports from the region said the withdrawal left behind military vehicles and weapons, while Ansarullah forces advanced toward the Bab al-Mandab coast and solidified their control of the strategic chokepoint. 
The islands captured during the offensive — including Perim, Zuqar and Greater and Lesser Hanish — are now part of the new military reality on the Red Sea coast. Sana’a says the Yemeni Armed Forces have established control over the entire western maritime zone and the approaches to Bab al-Mandab.
On Saturday, the political and humanitarian consequences of the battlefield victory became increasingly visible.
Abdul Qader al-Murtada, head of Sanaa’s National Prisoners Affairs Committee, announced that 210 prisoners had arrived in Sana’a after being liberated from prisons operated by Saudi-backed mercenaries on the western coast.
Al-Murtada said the prisoners had been included in lists agreed for an earlier exchange but that the Saudi-backed side had obstructed implementation. Some, he said, had spent five to eight years in captivity, while others had been subjected to unjust death or prison sentences.
He called on Saudi Arabia to draw a lesson from the collapse of its forces on the western front and urged Riyadh to implement previously agreed prisoner exchanges.
The liberation of prisoners was accompanied by a broader offer of amnesty.
Sana’a had announced a general presidential amnesty for Saudi mercenaries on the western front who abandon their weapons and return to what it calls the national side. 
On Saturday, Yemeni reports said senior figures from the forces commanded by Tareq Saleh had begun returning to Sana’a, including prominent aides and an intelligence official.
The message from Sana’a has been that the western-front victory is intended to dismantle the Saudi-backed mercenary structure rather than simply change territorial lines.
Mahdi al-Mashat, president of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, has said Yemeni forces will remain responsible for protecting the country’s security and interests. 
He also sought to reassure international shipping, saying there is no danger to navigation from Yemen and that any threat to maritime security comes from the “reckless actions” of the enemy.
Ansarullah political bureau member Hazam al-Asad likewise said international trade through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab is safe and operating normally, stressing that Yemen poses no threat to international shipping.
At the same time, Sana’a has made clear that Saudi vessels remain subject to its maritime blockade.
Yahya Saree said Yemeni forces regard navigation as safe for all shipping companies except Saudi vessels, which he said are already subject to the blockade.
The military developments have placed Saudi Arabia under intense pressure and prompted Riyadh to seek direct American backing.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman had spoken with him and that Saudi Arabia wanted U.S. support against Ansarullah. Trump also said Ansarullah had communicated with Washington and warned against direct U.S. involvement in the confrontation with Saudi Arabia.
Bitten by its bitter past experiences, Washington has stopped short of entering another direct war in Yemen, offering intelligence support while Saudi Arabia faces the consequences of the collapse of the forces it has financed and armed on the western coast.
For Sana’a, Saturday’s developments therefore marked the consolidation of a battlefield victory that has already transformed western Yemen.