SAANA, Yemen — A major offensive by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis to seize control of the gateway to the Red Sea has left more than 120 people dead, sources told AFP Friday, the country’s deadliest clashes in years.

Fighting erupted on Thursday, after the Houthi rebels launched a ground assault along with rocket and drone attacks near coastal areas, vying for control of the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait at the Red Sea’s southern entrance.

Yemen, embroiled in more than a decade of civil conflict, in July became the latest country to be drawn into the Middle East war as the Houthis upended a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government.

Since then, the Houthis have imposed a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and repeatedly attacked its ships in the Red Sea — a vital alternative route for oil exports after Iran all but halted Gulf shipments by blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

The rebels are now trying to tighten their hold over the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which they have disrupted with attacks on passing vessels since 2023 in solidarity with Hamas after it launched the October 7 massacre, sparking the war in Gaza.

The Houthi offensive aims to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance toward areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab, military sources told AFP.

The rebels have seized elevated sites........

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