YEMEN’S RED SEA CONTROL
Saudi Front Crumbles as Ansarullah Seizes Key Islands
SANA’A — Ansarullah-led Yemeni forces captured the strategic islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea on Monday, extending their positions along the approaches to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after the collapse and withdrawal of Saudi-backed forces from another key section of the western coast.
The latest advance followed the capture last week of the Red Sea port city of Mokha and Mayun Island, which sits inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, giving the Sana’a-based forces a widening presence across one of the region’s most strategically important maritime corridors. The Hanish islands lie about 160 kilometers north of Bab el-Mandeb.
The rapid sequence of territorial gains has placed Ansarullah-led forces in an increasingly dominant position along the southern Red Sea coast, while Saudi-backed mercenary formations have repeatedly withdrawn from positions that Riyadh had relied on to contain the advance.
The latest Hanish operation came after hundreds of Saudi-backed forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to officials cited by the Associated Press.
For Sana’a, the advances represent the latest stage in a military campaign aimed at imposing a new equation on Saudi Arabia after years of blockade, airstrikes and military intervention.
Ansarullah has repeatedly declared that its strategy is based on “siege for siege” and “escalation for escalation,” linking its military operations to the lifting of the Saudi blockade and an end to Saudi military activity in Yemen.
On Monday, Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Ansarullah-led forces carried out a large-scale missile and drone operation against King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait in Saudi Arabia’s Asir region.
Saree said dozens of ballistic missiles and combat drones were used against military installations and infrastructure at the base, including aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots.
He said the operation inflicted significant losses and was carried out in response to Saudi military escalation against Yemen.
The spokesman said Saudi aircraft had carried out more than 300 airstrikes against Yemeni provinces over the previous five days, including operations involving F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets.
Ansarullah-led forces, he said, would continue operations inside Saudi territory as long as the attacks and blockade continued.
The operation against King Khalid Air Base was presented by Sana’a as part of a broader “siege for siege” equation under which Saudi military pressure would produce increasingly direct pressure on Saudi military and economic interests.
The advances along the Red Sea have simultaneously begun to reshape the strategic geography of the conflict.
Mokha is a major port on Yemen’s western coast, while Mayun lies directly within Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow maritime passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Greater and Lesser Hanish extend the Sana’a-based forces’ positions farther north along the Red Sea and give them additional strategic depth around the approaches to the waterway.
The significance of the advances extends beyond Yemen’s battlefield. Bab el-Mandeb is one of the world’s major maritime chokepoints, and the widening Ansarullah presence along its approaches comes as Saudi Arabia faces increasing difficulty maintaining alternative routes for its oil exports.
Saudi Arabia has already shut its East-West oil pipeline as a precaution following attacks on the system last Thursday. The pipeline normally carries crude from the kingdom’s oil-producing east to Yanbu on the Red Sea, allowing Saudi Arabia to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
The Associated Press reported Monday that damage to a major pumping facility could leave the pipeline largely out of service for three to five weeks.
The pipeline disruption is particularly significant because Saudi Arabia has increasingly depended on the Red Sea route as maritime traffic through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted by the wider regional war.
The pipeline can carry several million barrels of crude a day, and its prolonged closure would further restrict Riyadh’s ability to move oil from its eastern fields to Red Sea export terminals.
The pressure on Saudi Arabia is therefore developing on several fronts at once: Ansarullah-led forces are expanding their positions along the Red Sea, Saudi-backed mercenary formations are losing strategic territory, and Saudi oil-export routes are facing disruptions on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula.
Sana’a has made clear that the military campaign is intended to force a political change in Saudi policy rather than simply produce battlefield gains.
Abdullah Ali Sabri, Yemen’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, said last week that the “siege for siege” and “escalation for escalation” equation is intended to pressure Riyadh back to negotiations and compel it to address Yemen’s legitimate demands, including lifting the blockade, ending military intervention and withdrawing foreign forces.
For Sana’a, the strategic objective is increasingly centered on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, where control of coastal positions and islands provides leverage over a maritime corridor connecting the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
Sana’a has warned that further Saudi attacks will bring a stronger response. Saree said the Yemeni Armed Forces would continue operations deep inside Saudi territory until the aggression and blockade ended.