‘A f***-up of epic proportions’: Blame game begins after Iran-backed Houthis’ lightning advance down Red Sea coast

The desperate pleas for air cover from Yemeni generals started coming mid-morning on Thursday. An advance by the Iran-backed Houthis toward Yemen’s strategic port city of Mocha was in full swing, and backup support from chief ally Saudi Arabia was nowhere in sight.

“The Houthis committed everything they had – waves upon waves of fighters … along with their available ballistic missiles and weapons,” a senior Yemeni source attached to their military forces told CNN. The source said he contacted the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and was assured the US was “watching the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming.”

“But the air support never came,” the source said. “And Mocha has now fallen.”

Hours later, on Friday, the Houthis captured another key coastal asset, Perim Island, at the mouth of the Red Sea. The island splits the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in two, giving Tehran de facto control over another key shipping route.

The Houthis’ rapid advance amounts to an extraordinary 36 hours in a conflict that had been largely on ice for years. But the kindling for renewed fighting had been laid for months amid the conflict between the United States and Iran, as Tehran seeks to use oil prices – and their impact on the global economy – as leverage.

Now, Yemen and the Red Sea have the potential to become a true second front in the Iran war.

Iran’s effective control of the Strait of Hormuz plus its tightening grip on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait threatens to push oil prices even higher, weeks before November’s midterm elections in the United States.

While the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Suez Canal shipping route, is less critical to global energy markets than Hormuz, it still carries essential goods worldwide, including millions of barrels of oil every day. The strait has become increasingly important since the start of the Iran war, as Saudi Arabia has re-routed some exports through the waterway to bypass Hormuz.

“(The Houthis) don’t need to use advanced weapons to close Bab al-Mandeb. They can just use a cannon on a car,” said Amr Al-Bidh, the top official of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC). The STC has fought both the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces in the past, and wants an independent state in the south.

“It’s a leverage that they have without using advanced weapons,” Al-Bidh told CNN in an interview. “And they will keep it.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke twice on Thursday with US President Donald Trump and urged him to strike the Houthis, another source familiar with the matter told CNN Friday. Trump declined to intervene, according to that source.

“The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests—such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea—while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges,” the White House said in response to CNN’s questions about the calls. “We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government regarding regional stability.”

CNN has also reached out to the Saudi Embassy in Washington for comment.

The swift fall of Mocha and the lack of resistance have led to finger-pointing and recriminations among US allies.

“The failure this time is not with the Yemenis,” a regional source told CNN on Thursday. “It’s a disaster made in (Washington) DC and Riyadh.

The regional source told CNN that it was “a complete failure of political leadership” amid fierce squabbling and delayed decision-making in Riyadh.

“There was not one air strike throughout the day yesterday (by Saudi support forces), although there were minute-by-minute updates,” the regional source added. “It’s a Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions.”

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Not everyone agrees. Mohammed al-Basha, who has served as an adviser to the US government and private sector on risks emerging from the Arabian Peninsula, argues that blame also rests with Yemeni leaders, whose internal divisions jeopardized their defenses.

“This goes back to a deeper problem in the anti-Houthi coalition,” the DC-based told CNN. “There is no political cohesion.”

“I think everybody was aware of the Houthis’ push towards the west coast. The writings on the wall were very clear,” he added. “There’s no united command and control in Yemen.”

Houthi fighters arrived in Mocha on Thursday to find Yemeni battalions that were severely depleted – their rosters were filled with “ghost names” receiving salaries, and the actual strength of the army was only about 20% of what it was on paper, a Western source with knowledge of the operations told CNN.

That was compounded by the fact that the United Arab Emirates – once a member of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen – withdrew its remaining forces from the country in January, after Saudi Arabia called for them to leave amid a dispute. And Saudi Arabia did not backfill those troop barracks and bases.

“It doesn’t make sense. I mean, you have the main backer of the militaries on the ground … who are really doing all of this work for 10 years, and suddenly you ask them to leave, and you don’t fill that vacuum,” Al-Bidh of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council added. “It’s just lack of strategy and poor management.”

The senior Yemeni official told CNN on Friday that he had “warned CENTCOM repeatedly over the past few days, including yesterday, that the situation was becoming critical.” CNN has reached out to CENTCOM for response.

Khaled Ziad/AFP/Getty Images

CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper was in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for coordination meetings, two sources familiar said. CENTCOM declined to comment, citing operational security reasons.

The Saudi military had been put on high alert three weeks ago, sources told CNN, but they didn’t move key air command personnel into place. The Western source with knowledge of the battle said that Saudi Arabia never deployed the necessary service personnel to control and direct combat aircraft in the event of a serious attack.

“The Saudis threw the Yemenis under the bus,” the Western source told CNN on Thursday.

CNN has reached out to the Saudi Arabian information ministry for comment on those allegations.

The failure to defend Mocha and Perim is even more confounding in light of the recent news – reported exclusively by CNN – that more than 100 US military advisers were sent to Saudi Arabia providing intelligence and targeting support to the Kingdom in its military campaign, according to five sources familiar with the operations.

Media Centre Of The Yemeni Armed Forces via Reuters

EXCLUSIVE: US expands intel, targeting support for Saudi campaign against Iranian ally

The US military personnel are working as part of a newly established joint forces command, which was formed in recent weeks amid signs Iran was ramping up its own efforts to aid Houthi attacks, said one of the sources, a US official. That official estimated the total number of US personnel in Saudia Arabia at roughly 200 troops.

The capture of the Red Sea assets gives the Houthis far greater maneuverability and leverage, as it opens up new locations from which the Iran-backed rebels can launch boats and attacks.

Asked what comes next, al-Basha, the risk analyst, told CNN: “I think the Houthis are going to be moving east. We are seeing today, via satellite and via OSINT (open-source intelligence) photography… that the Houthis are mobilizing.”

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on Friday described the Houthi advance on the west coast of Yemen as a “clear victory,” writing in a post on X that “the American people and Washington’s allies are paying the price for the economic crisis and Trump’s ambitions.”

CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany, Mostafa Salem, Nadeen Ebrahim, Jennifer Hansler, Zachary Cohen, Katie Bo Lillis and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.

也门将领们从周四上午开始发出绝望的空中支援请求。伊朗支持的胡塞武装正全力向也门战略港口城市摩卡推进，而其主要盟友沙特阿拉伯的后援却迟迟不见踪影。

一位与胡塞武装有关联的也门高级消息人士告诉CNN：“胡塞武装投入了他们所有的资源——一波又一波的战斗人员……以及他们可用的弹道导弹和武器。”该消息人士称，他已联系美国中央司令部（CENTCOM），并得到保证，美国正在“密切关注局势，沙特阿拉伯的空中支援即将到来”。

“但空中支援始终没有到来，”消息人士说。“摩卡现在已经沦陷了。”

数小时后，周五，胡塞武装占领了另一处重要的沿海据点——位于红海入口处的佩里姆岛。该岛将曼德海峡一分为二，使德黑兰实际上控制了另一条重要的航运路线。

胡塞武装的迅速推进，在短短36小时内打破了这场多年来基本处于停滞状态的冲突。然而，几个月来，美伊冲突的阴云早已埋下伏笔，德黑兰试图利用油价及其对全球经济的影响来施压，这无疑为战火重燃埋下了伏笔。

如今，也门和红海有可能成为伊朗战争的真正第二战场。

伊朗有效控制霍尔木兹海峡，并不断加强对曼德海峡的控制，这有可能在11月美国中期选举前几周推高油价。

虽然曼德海峡作为苏伊士运河航道的门户，对全球能源市场的重要性不及霍尔木兹海峡，但它仍然承载着全球重要的物资运输，包括每天数百万桶石油。自伊朗战争爆发以来，曼德海峡的重要性日益凸显，因为沙特阿拉伯已将部分出口货物改道经由该海峡，绕过霍尔木兹海峡。

也门南方过渡委员会（STC）高级官员阿姆鲁·比德表示：“（胡塞武装）不需要使用先进武器就能封锁曼德海峡。他们只需要一辆车上的大炮就行了。”南方过渡委员会过去曾与胡塞武装和沙特支持的部队交战，并希望在南部建立一个独立的国家。

“这是他们无需使用先进武器就能获得的筹码，”阿尔-比德在接受CNN采访时表示，“而且他们会一直保持这种筹码。”

据一位知情人士周五向CNN透露，沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼周四两次与美国总统唐纳德·特朗普通话，敦促他对胡塞武装发动打击。该消息人士称，特朗普拒绝干预。

白宫在回应CNN关于通话的提问时表示：“美国致力于保护我们的核心国家安全利益，例如确保红海航行自由，同时赋能我们的地区伙伴，使其在应对和解决地区安全挑战方面发挥主导作用。我们正与沙特阿拉伯和也门共和国政府就地区稳定问题保持持续对话。”

CNN也已联系沙特驻华盛顿大使馆寻求置评。

摩卡的迅速陷落以及缺乏抵抗，导致美国盟友之间互相指责和相互谴责。

一位地区消息人士周四告诉CNN：“这次的失败不在于也门人，而在于华盛顿特区和利雅得。”

一位地区消息人士告诉 CNN，这是“政治领导的彻底失败”，利雅得方面充满了激烈的争吵和迟迟未能做出的决策。

“昨天一整天（沙特支援部队）都没有发动一次空袭，尽管每分钟都有最新消息，”这位地区消息人士补充道。“这是沙特和美国犯下的史诗级错误。”

Win McNamee/Getty Images

并非所有人都同意这种观点。曾担任美国政府和私营部门顾问，就阿拉伯半岛风险提供咨询的穆罕默德·巴沙认为，也门领导人也难辞其咎，他们的内部纷争危及了国防安全。

“这可以追溯到反胡塞联盟更深层次的问题，”这位常驻华盛顿的专家告诉CNN，“那就是缺乏政治凝聚力。”

“我认为大家都清楚胡塞武装正向西海岸推进。形势非常明朗，”他补充道。“也门没有统一的指挥控制。”

周四，胡塞武装人员抵达摩卡，发现也门营的兵力严重不足——他们的名册上充斥着领取薪水的“幽灵名字”，军队的实际兵力只有纸面上的 20% 左右。一位了解此次行动的西方消息人士告诉 CNN。

雪上加霜的是，阿联酋——曾经是沙特领导的也门联军成员——在沙特阿拉伯因争端要求其撤军后，于1月份从也门撤出了剩余部队。而且，沙特阿拉伯也没有填补这些兵营和基地。

“这说不通。我的意思是，地面部队的主要支持者……他们十年来一直在努力工作，现在你突然让他们离开，却不填补这个真空，”也门南方过渡委员会的阿尔-比德补充道。“这纯粹是缺乏战略和管理不善。”

一位也门高级官员周五告诉CNN，他“在过去几天里，包括昨天，多次警告美国中央司令部，局势正变得十分危急”。CNN已联系美国中央司令部寻求回应。

Khaled Ziad/AFP/Getty Images

据两位知情人士透露，美国中央司令部司令布拉德·库珀海军上将周四在沙特阿拉伯参加协调会议。中央司令部以行动安全为由拒绝置评。

据CNN报道，沙特军方三周前就已进入高度戒备状态，但并未部署关键的空军指挥人员。一位了解战况的西方消息人士称，沙特阿拉伯从未部署必要的军事人员，以便在遭受严重袭击时控制和指挥作战飞机。

一位西方消息人士周四告诉CNN：“沙特人把也门人抛弃了。”

CNN已联系沙特阿拉伯新闻部，就这些指控寻求置评。

鉴于 CNN 独家报道的最新消息——据五位熟悉行动的消息人士透露，超过 100 名美国军事顾问被派往沙特阿拉伯，为沙特王国的军事行动提供情报和目标支持——未能保卫摩卡和佩里姆就更加令人费解了。

也门武装部队媒体中心（路透社）

独家消息：美国扩大情报范围，旨在支持沙特打击伊朗盟友的行动

一位美国官员透露，美军人员隶属于一个新成立的联合部队司令部，该司令部是在最近几周内成立的，当时有迹象表明伊朗正在加大力度支持胡塞武装的袭击。这位官员估计，驻沙特阿拉伯的美军总人数约为200人。

夺取红海资产使胡塞武装拥有更大的机动性和影响力，因为这开辟了新的地点，伊朗支持的叛军可以从这些地点发射船只并发动袭击。

当被问及接下来会发生什么时，风险分析师巴沙告诉CNN：“我认为胡塞武装将会向东推进。我们今天通过卫星和开源情报（OSINT）照片看到……胡塞武装正在进行集结。”

伊朗最高领袖的一位顾问周五将胡塞武装在也门西海岸的推进描述为“一场明显的胜利”，他在X网站上发帖写道：“美国人民和华盛顿的盟友正在为经济危机和特朗普的野心付出代价。”

CNN的Sarah El Sirgany、Mostafa Salem、Nadeen Ebrahim、Jennifer Hansler、Zachary Cohen、Katie Bo Lillis和Kylie Atwood对本报道亦有贡献。