source: Reuters

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces staged a lightning advance on Monday to retake the coast around ​the Bab el-Mandeb Strait up to the city of Mocha, the government said, pushing the Iran-backed Houthis out of most of the areas they seized last month.

In response, the Houthis ‌said they had attacked key locations in Saudi Arabia including the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, the Abha international airport and the Khamis Mushait military base.

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces staged a lightning advance on Monday to retake the coast around ​the Bab el-Mandeb Strait up to the city of Mocha, the government said, pushing the Iran-backed Houthis out of most of the areas they seized last month.

In response, the Houthis ‌said they had attacked key locations in Saudi Arabia including the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, the Abha international airport and the Khamis Mushait military base.

Meanwhile, the Houthis themselves made important advances near the third-largest city of Taiz, gaining sections of a mountain road to leave government forces besieged, according to five military sources with the Yemeni government. One government source denied the road ​had been cut.

The group also threatened to attack traffic in Saudi airspace.

The escalating conflict has prompted Riyadh’s allies to act. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday to ​rapidly deploy military forces and capabilities in Saudi Arabia under their Mecca defence pact, according to a joint statement.

The fighting has worsened a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the poorest state in the Arab region. The UN migration agency said on Monday that ‌184,000 people ⁠had been displaced since the war resumed.