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Yemeni army storms Red Sea islands, captures Bab al-Mandab Strait

Yemeni media quoted officials as saying that ‘navigation is safe’ in the strategic waterway, and that operations will continue until Saudi aggression ends

The Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) has stormed multiple Red Sea islands, including the UAE-occupied island of Mayun, while also advancing toward and capturing the entrance to the Strait of Bab al-Mandab, several reports said on 10 September.


https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/2098069343531667877

The YAF, which earlier in the day captured the city of Mokha from Saudi-backed forces, has yet to confirm entry into the islands.


Mayun is among several islands surrounding Yemen, in which the UAE has established military and intelligence sites in collaboration with Israel over the years.


Two military sources in the Yemen's Saudi-backed Aden government told Reuters that Ansarallah has reached the Hanish Islands in the Red Sea, and AFP reported that they seized Zuqar Island.

Additionally, local sources told the Qatari Al-Araby TV that Ansarallah-led forces took control of the strategic island of Mayun in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

“With the fall of the Al-Ardhiya area and the entry of Yemen’s armed forces into the area, Ansarallah has officially gained control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait,” said a report by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.


“Ansarallah’s control of the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait means that Yemen’s armed forces now have full control over the security of navigation and commercial shipping in the Red Sea,” the report added.

Yemeni media also reported the full capture of Bab al-Mandab, a critical energy passageway through which around 10 percent of the world’s oil passes.

“Maritime navigation is safe, and the security of navigation has nothing to do with the skirmishes that were extinguished in the western coast districts,” Deputy Foreign Minister of the Sanaa government Abdul Wahid Abu Ras was quoted as saying by SABA news agency.


Top Yemeni negotiator and spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam said “Red Sea navigation is safe” and that “operations will cease when the aggression ends.”


“What the YAF has carried out in certain coastal areas is a national operation within the framework of asserting Yemeni sovereignty and addressing the challenges and ambitions that threaten civil peace,” he added.


Clashes have been raging over the past few days between Ansarallah and Saudi-backed forces belonging to the Aden-based Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), which has sustained heavy losses due to YAF operations in recent days.

The YAF has also targeted what remains of Emirati-backed militias in the country.

“The western coast fronts have witnessed intense fighting amid movements by Saudi enemy-backed forces, prompting the YAF to target these formations in the area with drones and ballistic missiles,” Al-Masirah TV said on Thursday evening.


At the same time, Yemen’s Supreme Political Council announced an end to fighting on the western coast.

It said Saudi-backed troops were “expelled” from the western coastal region.

Yemeni forces stormed PLC prisons on the coast where Yemeni soldiers and resistance fighters were being imprisoned on behalf of Saudi Arabia, according to Al-Masirah TV.

Abdul Qader al-Murtadha, head of the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs, was quoted as saying that the YAF “succeeded in liberating all army prisoners from Saudi enemy detention facilities on the western coast.”


Meanwhile, the Yemeni army announced shooting down a Saudi military drone. It also announced over 60 Saudi airstrikes on Yemen over the past 24 hours.


A day earlier, new Yemeni missile strikes hit Saudi military and energy infrastructure inside the kingdom. These sites have been under heavy Yemeni attacks in recent days.


Sanaa’s recent escalation of retaliatory operations was prompted by Saudi Arabia’s July attack on Sanaa International Airport, which has been under blockade by the kingdom for more than a decade since Riyadh launched its brutal war on Yemen in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition.

A 2023 Saudi–Yemeni peace process nearly resulted in an agreement between the two sides.

The peace talks stalled but prevented a major escalation from erupting. Yet the kingdom has continued attacks for years and its illegal and deadly blockade of Yemeni ports and airports.

Sanaa has been heavily mobilizing and has vowed to fully expel the Saudi-led coalition from Yemen.

Yemeni forces destroy weapons shipments bound for Saudi proxies

VIDEO | Yemeni Armed Forces release footage of a ballistic missile strike on military supply trucks entering Al-Wadiah camp from Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/Spima8GSjc

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 7, 2026

FreeStuffsNG:
Two strategic straits now under the grip of Iran and Yemen.
If Trump does not still wean himself of pride, this strait will also be closed too.

Right now, red sea is no go area for Saudi oil tankers and Hormutz is locked by Iran. Both straits were previously open and free for navigation until Trump started killing Iranians.

PremiumPrompt:
This is not a major achievement

Karlman:
What happened to Hamas, Hezbollah and Ayatollah Khamenei will soon happen to them.

FreeStuffsNG:
Two strategic straits now under the grip of Iran and Yemen.
If Trump does not still wean himself of pride, this strait will also be closed too.

Right now, red sea is no go area for Saudi oil tankers and Hormutz is locked by Iran. Both straits were previously open and free for navigation until Trump started killing Iranians.

FreeStuffsNG:
Two strategic straits now under the grip of Iran and Yemen.
If Trump does not still wean himself of pride, this strait will also be closed too.

Right now, red sea is no go area for Saudi oil tankers and Hormutz is locked by Iran. Both straits were previously open and free for navigation until Trump started killing Iranians.

Banter1:
Mr Trump please help your brothers in the middle east.

seunayantokun:
Ìran backs Houthii terrorist militia, not the Yemeni army. Do you understand what you are posting?

Hismajesty44:
Muslims and crisis are like oxygen and hydrogen that are inseparable in water! When they advance islamic interest, you think they have something positively unique to learn from them but looking to their predominant countries crisis everywhere.