Yemen's Push on Sanaa Collapses and Houthis Take the West Coast
The anti-Houthi offensive toward Sanaa has collapsed, with more than 15 brigades defeated and the entire west coast passing into Houthi hands. What was billed as a decisive assault on the Houthi-controlled capital ended in rout, according to reporting published on 18 September 2026. The Guardian
As many as 30,000 well-equipped fighters retreated from the littoral, the coastal strip. Forces aligned with the UN-recognised Yemeni government are now being reorganised for an attempt to capture the Kahbob mountains, described as a strategic point from which to restrict Houthi movement toward the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrow waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea.
Houthi units seized the National Resistance Forces headquarters on the high ground at Jabal al-Nar hours before the fall of Mocha. That headquarters was supposed to hold six military brigades and sophisticated weaponry provided by Saudi Arabia. Government troops then withdrew from Mocha in the early hours of 10 September and from Perim Island, also known as Mayyun Island, at the mouth of the shipping lane. Reuters The Houthi advance along the western coast in the week before 15 September was described as lightning, with a push south toward Dhubab on the Red Sea coast also reported.
Mocha fell with barely a fight, by one local account. Resident Abdu Mukabib described the withdrawal from the now Houthi-held port city as "great betrayal." He said the Houthi force that entered the city at 6am numbered less than 20: two military vehicles each carrying five people and four motorcycles each carrying two people.
Officials gave different accounts of the collapse. Tareq Saleh's National Resistance Forces said the withdrawal was a "necessary tactical retreat" after the death of 500 of their soldiers and to prevent encirclement, or being surrounded and cut off. The governor of Hadramaut claimed billions of dollars were offered to persuade forces defending the west coast to abandon their positions, without identifying the source of the payment. Nobel peace prize winner Tawakkol Karman called for an investigation into the collapse.
Saleh said he is now forming the "Tihami Resistance," a group entirely independent of Yemen national forces. The political backdrop includes the departure of the UAE from Yemen in January, after Saudi Arabia played a role in forcing it out and in the outlawing of the separatist Southern Transitional Council. Earlier in September, Yemen's army said it had recaptured key territory as clashes continued, while a Yemeni military official told Al Jazeera that 24 government troops were killed near the west coast. Al Jazeera Government forces also stated they were conducting strikes against Houthi positions in Mocha and the northern Marib governorate.
The broader context here is control of ground that governs access, not just land for its own sake. Perim/Mayyun Island sits inside the Bab al-Mandab, the narrow passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthi movement took control of the strait after seizing Mayyun Island following the government withdrawal. New Arab Like holding the high seats in a stadium, holding Jabal al-Nar, Kahbob and the island decides who can watch and who can block movement through the lane.
Looking at what this means for the anti-Houthi coalition, the inquest will likely focus less on a single tactical decision and more on fragmentation. A 30,000-strong retreat, the loss of a brigade headquarters stocked with externally supplied weapons, and the public creation of a separate resistance formation point to parallel chains of command rather than a unified offensive plan. The allegation of payments to abandon positions remains unattributed, and the call for an independent investigation reflects the depth of distrust. Whether a reorganised effort around Kahbob can re-establish a blocking position near the strait will determine if the west coast loss becomes a permanent shift in the military map.
