Ta'izz Governorate

Um, and The Institute for the Study of War reports that forces aligned with the internationally recognized Yemeni government have seized mountainous terrain that overlooks the Red Sea coastal plain could set favorable conditions for those forces to continue their counteroffensive and advance northward.

Further inland, according to The Institute for the Study of War, the government forces appear to have stalled additional significant Houthi advances in the central Taiz Governorate.

That's that place we've been talking about just inland from the Red Sea coast and between Taiz city and Aden, which is controlled by the internationally backed government forces.

Such a mouthful there.

Um, and Ansarullah, the resistance movement itself, often described as the Houthis in Western media, trying to reduce it down to one tribal, uh, faction rather than an entire movement, has swept through to liberate many of the areas that had previously been occupied by various proxies of the countries arraigned against, uh, Yemen.

And so I just wanted to show, before I introduce our very special guest, this video taken by Al Masirah TV in Al-Turabah, uh, which is a town near the coast of the Red Sea in the Taiz Governorate that was just, uh, liberated by Ansarullah.

And this is the reaction of the people there.

[whooshing] [upbeat music]

Uh, Mocha was the first, was the, one of the early ports to fall to the Houthi offensive in the, uh, the offensive last month.

Um, Yemen government forces backed by Saudi Arabia said they, uh, together with what are called the Popular Resistance forces, took control of Al Manzara, Al Ashari, and the Diban Mountains in Hayfan, south of Taiz as well.

Um, they also say they've taken Dubab, which is a, it's one of the kind of port towns on the way to Mocha.

And one more thing here, Turkey and Pakistan, um, saying they've agreed to some kind of, uh, deployment under the Mecca Defense Plan to back Saudi Arabia's security under the new, the new Mecca agreement, which they signed last month, which was, we were wondering what they would do and whether they would take.

It sits on the road between Taiz and Aden, the government's interim capital.

The loss isolates Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, and disrupts resupply for the troops defending Taiz Governorate.

The Houthis already hold villages on the city's outskirts.

Taiz Governorate has 4.5 million people.

Heavy fighting centers on Jabal Han, the mountain that overlooks Taiz city.

Government forces say they have captured several areas, including Samah Fort.

He said government forces carried out nearly 500 operations using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles, and rocket launchers.

Most of the casualties came in Taiz Governorate, he said.

He mentioned no government casualties, and the figure is the army's alone.

On Saturday, army media official Ammar Al Samii told Al Jazeera that the government had closed the Al Huban crossing in Taiz.

This is the six AM GMT news bulletin from Arab News coming to you from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In Yemen, the Air Force carried out twenty precise airstrikes targeting the Houthis in Taiz Governorate.

A spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces said the raids achieved direct hits and inflicted losses on the militia.

The action followed reports that the Houthi militia struck an electricity distribution station in Medina, Saudi Arabia.