Saudi-Backed Forces Announce Withdrawal From Yemen's Red Sea Coast

Saudi-backed forces in Yemen announced on Nov. 15 that they were withdrawing from Yemen's Red Sea coast, where they had spent weeks fighting to retake strategic territory from the Houthi militia, according to The New York Times.

The force is called the Southern Armed Forces, a group allied with Yemen's government. In its announcement, it said it was redeploying to protect Aden, citing battlefield developments and threats targeting the city.

Aden is Yemen's interim capital. It has been the seat of the internationally recognized government for more than a decade, and the government's presence there has made it a central political center in a country divided between rival authorities. The move to shift forces toward the city reflects the Southern Armed Forces' stated concern for its security, not a change in the front lines the group described.

The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, seized control of Sanaa, Yemen's capital, in the years before the current fighting. Their control of the capital and much of the north has left the government and its allies holding a shrinking share of the country, with the Red Sea coast among the areas contested in recent weeks.

The Southern Armed Forces' announcement describes a redeployment toward Aden, the southern port city that serves as the government's base. Whether the withdrawal from the coast will change control of the territory the group had been trying to retake was not stated in the announcement.

Yemen's conflict has drawn in outside powers, with Saudi Arabia backing forces opposed to the Houthis. The Red Sea coast has long been a strategic stretch of Yemen's territory, and control of it carries weight for those fighting over the country's future.