Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis advanced to within 80 kilometers of Aden, the main stronghold and temporary capital of the internationally recognized government, four military sources told Reuters on Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported. The paper said the move brought the Houthis closer to Aden than at any point since early 2015, when they briefly entered the city before being driven out.
Al-Maqatirah taken, Tur al-Bahah under assault
The sources said the Houthis launched an assault on government positions in Al-Maqatirah three days earlier and had since taken the whole district. The mountainous area overlooks the road linking Taiz to Aden, the last remaining link between government-held territory and Taiz during the war. Government troops were forced back toward Tur al-Bahah. Fighting on Monday was underway at a military camp at the entrance to Tur al-Bahah district, about 50 kilometers from Lahj’s provincial capital and 80 kilometers from Aden — one of the main approaches to the city.
The Jerusalem Post, citing those sources, said the push threatens strategic positions along the Aden–Taiz road, a vital artery for southwestern Yemen. Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, has been encircled since early October, when the Houthis cut its main road south to Aden; the siege has displaced more than 100,000 people and caused shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. Houthi official Hamid Rizq posted a video, which Reuters could not immediately verify, of what he said were fighters entering Souq al-Rabouh in Maqatirah district.
Eighty kilometers from Aden is a front, not a rumor. Iran’s Houthi proxy took Al-Maqatirah, pressed Tur al-Bahah, and put the government’s temporary capital inside that radius for the first time since 2015. The Jerusalem Post’s account is that advance and what it does to the road to Taiz.