Yemeni Air Force Bombs Declared Kill Zone Around Mokha and Dhubab

YEMEN — Staff Colonel Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaily, official spokesperson for the internationally recognized Yemeni Armed Forces, said on September 13 that the air force was still destroying Houthi equipment, gatherings, and fighters inside a declared kill zone around the Red Sea port of Mokha and the Dhubab district in western Taiz Governorate.

A kill zone, also called a kill box in the Aden command’s Arabic statement, is a pre-marked patch of ground set aside for concentrated fire. Al-Nuzaily said the air force had opened that box on September 11 and asked civilians to stay off the Taiz-Mokha road and the Mokha-Dhubab road until a further notice.

Locations Affected

• Mokha, also spelled Mocha or Al-Makha, is a Red Sea port in Taiz Governorate about 50 miles (80 km) north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

• Approximate coordinates for the town are 13.32, 43.25. The port and the coastal road south toward Dhubab are the terrain the Yemeni command placed inside the kill zone.

• Dhubab district sits on the same coast closer to the strait. Approximate coordinates for Dhubab town are 12.94, 43.41. Mayun Island lies in the strait near 12.66, 43.43. Al-Tuwal in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan Region is the site named by Saudi Civil Defense for the September 12 projectile.

• Abha, Khamis Mushait, and Najran are the additional Saudi cities named by Ambassador Al-Wasel on September 11. Obock, Djibouti, about 12 miles (20 km) across the strait from the Yemeni shore, is the landing point named by IOM and by Djibouti’s economy and finance minister for sea arrivals from Yemen.

• Lahj Governorate, inland and south of Taiz, is the first receiving governorate named both by IOM and by Lahj’s own security committee on September 13.

• The animal-quarantine site named by Al-Nuzaily is 6.8 miles (11 km) from Mokha on the Dhubab road. Exact coordinates for that compound, for Zaid Al-Kharj mall, and for the former headquarters on the northern ring road have not been published.

Latest Developments

• The Yemeni Armed Forces Media Center republished Al-Nuzaily’s September 13 clip at 11:53 AM UTC. Al-Nuzaily has issued no later strike claim.

• Saba in Aden said on September 13 that armed-forces units on the Taiz axis were in clashes with Houthi fighters and that air raids had hit Houthi reinforcements and positions, a separate file from the five Mokha sites.

• Lahj Governor Murad Al-Halimi chaired an expanded security-committee meeting on September 13 on Houthi-front developments and the safety of residents and displaced people, Saba reported.

• Lahj Deputy Governor Salah Al-Daoudi chaired a September 13 meeting with public-service offices on rising displacement into the governorate from contact areas, Saba reported.

• IOM raised its displacement floor again on September 13 and said more than 2,000 people had reached Djibouti’s northern shore near Obock. The agency said roads were increasingly inaccessible, communications remained disrupted, and more people were expected to flee.

• Legal Affairs Minister Ishraq Al-Maqtari met IOM’s Yemen chief of mission, Abdul Sattar Essaoui, in Aden on September 12 on legal frameworks for protecting displaced people, Saba reported.

• Yemeni Health Minister Qasim Bahibah opened a blood-donation drive in Aden on September 13 and visited wounded patients at Aboud Hospital, Saba reported. Neither Aden nor Sanaa has published a civilian death total for the kill-zone sorties.

• Djibouti Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh said on September 11 that 500 people had reached Obock and on September 12 that 1,400 people had arrived from Yemen in 24 hours.

• Saba said on September 12, in a separate Taiz-city incident from the Mokha kill zone, that a woman was killed by fragments from a Houthi shell in Al-Shaqab, Sabir Al-Mawadim district.

• Saudi Civil Defense said a Houthi projectile struck Al-Tuwal in Jazan on September 12, wounding two people and damaging a mosque, buildings, and vehicles.

• Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Wasel told the U.N. Security Council on September 11 that Houthi fire into Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, and Najran had wounded 73 civilians, including women and children.

• Yemen’s ambassador to the European Union, Mohammed Taha Mustafa, discussed the western-coast escalation and maritime security on September 12 with Helene Le Gal, head of the Middle East and North Africa division at the European External Action Service, Saba reported.

• Foreign Minister Afrah Al-Zawba, the same week, called Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al-Zayani on the western-coast fighting and the threat to Bab el-Mandeb, and separately asked U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk to move on civilian harm along the western coast and Bab el-Mandeb.

• United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) issued Warning 134-26 at 11:00 PM UTC on September 12 for a separate projectile strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, not the Bab el-Mandeb. UKMTO has issued no later warning naming Mokha, Dhubab, or Mayun.

• UKMTO’s September 11 Voluntary Reporting Area overview kept the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) threat for the southern Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Gulf of Aden at SUBSTANTIAL and tied the current shipping threat to the published Houthi blockade of Saudi-linked traffic. It recorded six fatalities reported to UKMTO since that blockade was announced.

Operational Snapshot

• Coastal ground: Houthi forces hold Mokha, Dhubab, and Mayun after the National Resistance withdrawal. Al-Aradah said withdrawn units are being rearranged and will return in some form. No named brigade is back in the port.

• Air: Yemeni Armed Forces last said on September 13 at 11:43 AM UTC that the air force was still bombing the published kill zone. Aircraft type and sortie count are unpublished. No second official battle-damage list exists.

• Saudi frontier: Civil Defense logged two wounded at Al-Tuwal on September 12. Ambassador Al-Wasel gave 73 wounded across four Saudi cities on September 11.

• Civilian movement: IOM’s September 13 floor follows the September 11 and September 12 counts. Taiz remains the hardest-hit governorate. IOM put more than 2,000 arrivals near Obock. Dawaleh had put 500 arrivals on September 11 and 1,400 across 24 hours on September 12.

• Maritime: UKMTO’s September 11 overview keeps JMIC at SUBSTANTIAL for Bab el-Mandeb. MARAD Advisory 2026-006 keeps U.S.-, U.K.-, and Israel-linked shipping at high risk through September 22. UKMTO’s newest named hit is in Hormuz, not Bab el-Mandeb.

• U.S. command: CENTCOM has published no item on the Aden air strikes as of September 14 at 4:57 AM UTC.

The parties on the ground now form a short network.

• Presidential Leadership Council and Yemeni Armed Forces, Aden: claim the air campaign and the legal government. Al-Aradah says withdrawn units will return in some form. They have not shown a named unit back in Mokha.

• Ansar Allah, Sanaa: holds the seized coast and fires into Saudi Arabia. Its military spokesman has not answered the five-site list on an official Sanaa military channel.

• Saudi Arabia: backs Aden and is absorbing projectiles. Civil Defense and the U.N. mission are the two official Saudi voices on this week’s fire.

• National Resistance: lost the coastal belt it had held since 2017. Tareq Saleh was absent from the September 10 defense-council meeting.

• CENTCOM: the U.S. command with forces in the same theater. It has stayed silent on this specific Aden air campaign.

• Djibouti: the first foreign landing shore. IOM counted more than 2,000 arrivals near Obock as of September 13. Dawaleh had counted 500 on September 11 and 1,400 across 24 hours on September 12.

• Lahj local authority: first Yemeni governorate government now meeting on the inbound displaced population named by IOM.

Threat Indicators

• Confirmed: Houthi forces hold Mokha, with Dhubab and Mayun reported taken in the same push.

• Confirmed: Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson opened a declared kill zone and named five Mokha-area aimpoints.

• Confirmed: Saba in Aden, on September 12, described a separate air file against Houthi fighters and vehicles in Dhubab and on the northern fronts.

• Confirmed: IOM raised its displacement floor on September 11, September 12, and September 13.

• Confirmed: IOM put more than 2,000 arrivals near Obock as of September 13. Dawaleh had put 500 on September 11 and 1,400 across 24 hours on September 12.

• Confirmed: Saudi Civil Defense recorded a Houthi projectile at Al-Tuwal on September 12, two wounded.

• Confirmed: Ambassador Al-Wasel told the Security Council on September 11 that Houthi attacks on Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, and Najran had wounded 73 civilians.

• Confirmed: UKMTO’s September 11 overview kept JMIC at SUBSTANTIAL for Bab el-Mandeb and recorded six fatalities since the Saudi-linked blockade announcement.

• Early signal: Al-Aradah said withdrawn coastal forces are being rearranged and will return in some form, with no named unit back in Mokha.

• Early signal: Al-Zindani’s cabinet pledged to implement Defense Council guidance and raise support for units on the fronts, with no numbered list of units or measures published.

• Tripwire: Civilian traffic banned on the Taiz-Mokha and Mokha-Dhubab roads until a further notice.

• Early signal: Mayun in Houthi hands puts an armed party on the island that watches Bab el-Mandeb traffic.

• Ongoing: U.S. State Department Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory for Yemen remains in force.

• Ongoing: MARAD Advisory 2026-006 keeps U.S.-, U.K.-, and Israel-linked shipping at high risk in the southern Red Sea through September 22.

Official Statements

• Amy Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration, September 13: “Behind every number is a family who’s lost everything. Many have been displaced multiple times. People are crossing the sea with nothing because they have no other choice left. Yemen is a country torn by poverty and conflict, and it cannot carry this crisis alone. I call on donors to scale up support now, for those arriving in Djibouti and for the communities in Obock receiving them.”

• Staff Colonel Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaily, Official Spokesperson, Yemeni Armed Forces, September 13: “The Air Force is destroying equipment, gatherings, and elements of the terrorist Houthi militia in the kill box in the Dhubab and Mokha areas.” (translated from Arabic)

• Yemeni Armed Forces Media Center, September 13: “The Air Force is destroying equipment, gatherings, and elements of the terrorist Houthi militia in the kill box in the Dhubab and Mokha areas.” (translated from Arabic)

• Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, Minister of Economy and Finance, Djibouti, September 12: “1400 refugees arrived in Djibouti from Yemen in just 24 hours.”

• Staff Colonel Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaily, Official Spokesperson, Yemeni Armed Forces, September 12: “The Yemeni Air Force is targeting elements and vehicles of the Houthi militia in the kill box.” (translated from Arabic)

• Yemen News Agency (Saba), Aden, September 12: “The armed forces announced this evening that the air force had carried out qualitative operations that targeted elements, equipment, and vehicles of the terrorist Houthi militias backed by the Iranian regime, in Dhubab and the northern fronts.” (translated from Arabic)

• Lt. Gen. Sultan Al-Aradah, Presidential Leadership Council member and Governor of Marib, September 12: “The forces that withdrew are now being rearranged, and they will return to the battle in one form or another.” (translated from Arabic)

• Prime Minister Shaie Mohsen Al-Zindani, September 12: “The current escalation, despite its seriousness, will not turn into confusion in the work of the state or a vacuum that the Houthi militia and those behind it can exploit.” (translated from Arabic)

• Prime Minister Shaie Mohsen Al-Zindani, September 12: “The Houthi escalation is not a passing development or merely a new round of confrontation, but a wide and serious escalation that exceeds the Yemeni arena and is connected to an Iranian agenda that uses Yemen and its strategic location to threaten regional security and international navigation.” (translated from Arabic)

• International Organization for Migration, Geneva, September 12: “At least 76,000 people have fled their homes since July, up from 46,000 just days earlier, according to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) team and partners.”

• Saudi Civil Defense official spokesperson, September 12: “Civil Defense in Al-Tuwal Governorate in the Jazan Region responded to the impact of a projectile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia, which resulted in two injuries and material damage to a mosque and a number of buildings and vehicles. Targeting civilian objects is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and the established procedures in such cases have been carried out.” (translated from Arabic)

• Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, Minister of Economy and Finance, Djibouti, September 11: “The first humanitarian consequences of the war in Yemen have already reached Djibouti’s shores. So far, 500 refugees have arrived in the coastal city of Obock, including women and children rescued at sea from boats stranded without fuel.”

• Staff Colonel Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaily, Official Spokesperson, Yemeni Armed Forces, September 11: “Results of some Yemeni Air Force strikes in the Mokha and Dhubab area: complete destruction of vehicles and weapons and elimination of elements of the terrorist Houthi militia near Mokha port. Elimination of large gatherings of elements of the terrorist Houthi militia near Zaid Al-Kharj mall in Mokha city. Elimination of elements of the terrorist Houthi militia next to the water project administration in Mokha. Elimination of gatherings of vehicles and elements of the terrorist Houthi militia on the Mokha-Dhubab line at the animal quarantine site, 11 kilometers from Mokha city. Elimination of gatherings of elements of the terrorist Houthi militia at a former headquarters of one of the military leaders on the northern ring road in Mokha city.” (translated from Arabic)

• Staff Colonel Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaily, Official Spokesperson, Yemeni Armed Forces, September 11: “The Air Force has begun bombing the previously announced kill box. We ask civilians to avoid using the Taiz-Mokha road as well as the Mokha-Dhubab road. Civilians should not use the restricted roads until further notice.” (translated from Arabic)

• Yemen News Agency (Saba), Aden, September 11: “The armed forces spokesperson announced that the air force had begun bombing in the previously announced military operations area, the kill box.” (translated from Arabic)

• Yemen News Agency (Saba), Aden, September 11: “The armed forces today destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed elements of the terrorist Houthi militias backed by the Iranian regime, near Mokha port in Taiz Governorate.” (translated from Arabic)

• Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Wasel, Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, September 11: “Saudi Arabia condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist and criminal attacks launched by the terrorist Houthi militia, which targeted civilian and economic objects in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, and resulted in the injury of 73 civilians, including women and children.” (translated from Arabic)

• Amy Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration, September 11: “Families are being forced to flee for the second or third time in this conflict, with almost nothing left. As fighting spreads, reaching people with lifesaving assistance is becoming harder. We urgently need safe, unimpeded access. All parties must protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and safeguard the supplies, vehicles and facilities we depend on to deliver help.”