Houthi fighters are pushing to seize the Kahboub Mountains in the provinces of Taiz and Lahij, which separate the Red Sea coast from the government-held south of Yemen, according to five Yemeni military sources cited by Reuters on Monday, September 21.

Fighting has centred on the outskirts of the remote mountain district of Al-Wazi’iyah in Taiz and on Ras al-Ara on the Indian Ocean coast, between the mouth of the Red Sea that the group seized last week and the government base in Aden; the aim is to protect the rear of Houthi forces around the Bab al-Mandab Strait and open new fronts, the sources said. Situation Report No. 4 from the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Yemen, issued on September 20, records 674 deaths and 2,998 injuries from August 6 to September 18, and 122,297 people displaced — in 17,852 families, through September 15, across eight governorates — citing Yemen’s Executive Unit for the Management of IDP Camps. The AFP news agency, citing Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah TV, reported that Saudi strikes killed six people in Mocha, including two children and a woman; Saudi Arabia has not commented.