Why are the Houthis fighting for Yemen’s Kahboub Mountains?

Kahboub could help the Houthis consolidate control near one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

Supporters of the Houthi authorities brandish weapons in Sanaa, Yemen, on September 18, 2026, and hold placards showing the Kaaba in Mecca that read, 'For it, we willingly offer our souls,' during a protest against the Saudi intervention in Yemen and against Saudi Arabia's recent accusation that the Houthis fired on Mecca [AFP]

The Houthis are attempting to push into the Kahboub Mountains after seizing much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast in a lightning offensive this month – an advance that experts say could dramatically shift the balance of power in the country’s war if successful.

The renewed fighting in recent months with forces aligned with Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government has brought an end to the relative calm that had largely held since 2022. In recent days, the conflict has moved into the rugged highlands overlooking the approaches to Bab al-Mandeb, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.

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The strait connects the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and its importance is only growing as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted by the Houthis’ main ally: Iran.

Experts said taking the high ground would help the Houthis defend the newly captured coastline and make it far harder for government forces to push them back. While the mountains may not necessarily be used as a launchpad for attacks on ships, controlling them would provide defensive depth and cover for Houthi positions closer to the coast, making missile and drone operations in the Red Sea easier to sustain and harder to disrupt.

The Houthis have said they do not intend to target United States shipping and attacks would be limited to vessels linked to Saudi Arabia. But the group has repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea in previous years, including vessels with no clear connection to its stated targets.

The Houthi advance has taken on added urgency after The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump came close to ordering air attacks against the Houthis on Sunday, only to call them off at the last minute. Britain, meanwhile, said it will support Saudi Arabia with defensive refuelling.

Why is Kahboub strategically important?

Kahboub, a mountainous region spanning parts of the Lahj and Taiz governorates in southern Yemen, derives much of its strategic importance from its proximity to Bab al-Mandeb. Some of its heights lie about 40km (25 miles) from the waterway, providing commanding views across a stretch of the Red Sea, through which a significant share of global maritime trade and millions of barrels of oil pass each day.

While that vantage point has considerable military value, experts said the mountains are unlikely to serve directly as a launchpad for attacks in the Red Sea. Their more immediate importance for the Houthis lies in securing the territory the group has already captured.

“The mountains are the natural wall that protects the Houthis’ rear on the coast. Controlling them would cut the coast off from the government-held south and place direct pressure on Lahj and, in the longer term, Aden,” Faozi Al-Goidi, a visiting fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

Securing their rear would help the Houthis prevent government forces from attacking their coastal positions from behind or severing the routes connecting their newly captured territory. Until the high ground is secured, Houthi forces stationed along the Red Sea remain vulnerable to attacks from government-held areas to the south and east.

Capturing the elevated positions, therefore, would make Kahboub less important as a potential launchpad for maritime attacks than as a defensive shield for the Houthis’ military gains along the coast.

Ewa K Strzelecka, a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera that controlling the coastline, Mayyun Island and the neighbouring highlands would give the Houthis “strategic resilience”.

“Holding the coastline, Mayyun and the adjacent highlands together would give the Houthis a much deeper and more defensible position around one of the world’s principal maritime chokepoints,” she said.

Those positions would allow the Houthis to move fighters, weapons and supplies along the coast with less risk of their routes being severed from behind.

“From the high ground, the Houthis could monitor movements along the coast, around Mayyun Island and towards the chokepoint while protecting missile, drone and potentially unmanned-boat infrastructure positioned farther inland,” Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.

The battle is already proving slower than the Houthis’ rapid advance across the coastal plains. Footage circulated on X by the Taiz Military Axis Command’s media centre appears to show intense fighting between forces aligned with the Yemeni government, local fighters and the Houthis on mountain fronts. The footage could not be independently verified by Al Jazeera.

“This is not an easy battle,” said Mohammed al-Basha, an analyst and a former spokesperson for Yemen’s embassy in Washington. “The fighting is taking place across some of Yemen’s most unforgiving terrain where control of a single hilltop or mountain peak can come at a heavy cost.”

Could the Houthis isolate Taiz by controlling Kahboub?

Control of Kahboub could also place greater pressure on Taiz, a symbolically and strategically important city, as the Taiz governorate forms a bridge between the Houthi-held north and the government-held south and the Red Sea coast. Whoever controls it gains the upper hand in the movement of weapons and supplies between the interior and the southern port city of Aden. Losing it, therefore, could deal a serious blow to the government.

Murad Al-Arefi, an editor at the Sana’a Center, told Al Jazeera that taking Kahboub would “increase pressure on the southern and western approaches to Taiz” although he cautioned that it should not yet be seen as evidence of a broader attempt to encircle the city.

The immediate threat to the Taiz-Aden connection is less direct because Kahboub does not itself sit across the route. “What matters is whether the Houthis can subsequently push farther east through Al-Wazi’iyah and towards the Al-Turbah-Lahj axis, which would place much greater pressure on the southern approaches to Taiz and potentially weaken its connection with Aden,” Strzelecka said.

A further advance, therefore, could leave government forces defending several mountain fronts simultaneously while relying on fewer secure routes to move troops, weapons and supplies, leaving Taiz increasingly exposed. One of Yemen’s largest population centres, Taiz became an important centre of resistance to the Houthis after they seized Sanaa in 2014, and was besieged by the rebel group for years. A major Houthi breakthrough there, therefore, would carry symbolic significance far beyond the territory captured.

What could it mean for Red Sea shipping?

Officially, the Houthis have said their current restrictions in Bab al-Mandeb would apply only to Saudi-linked shipping.

But during its previous Red Sea campaign, the group struck or endangered ships with no clear connection to Israel – their purported target during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza – raising questions about how narrowly any new restrictions would be applied. Seizing the Kahboub Mountains would further strengthen the Houthis’ position by helping them secure the coastline overlooking Bab al-Mandeb and making it harder for their opponents to push them back.

Simon Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University, told Al Jazeera that the offensive showed the Houthis using their momentum to capture more territory, weaken their opponents and “dominate Yemen further”.

“This is the Houthis trying to seize more ground and diminish the capacity of their enemies while increasing their strategic ability to close Bab al-Mandeb,” Mabon said.

卡布布可以帮助胡塞武装巩固对世界上最繁忙的航运路线之一的控制。

2026年9月18日，在也门首都萨那，胡塞武装的支持者挥舞着武器，举着麦加天房的标语牌，上面写着“为了它，我们甘愿献出生命”，抗议沙特阿拉伯干预也门，以及沙特阿拉伯最近指责胡塞武装炮击麦加。[法新社]

胡塞武装本月发动闪电攻势，占领了也门红海沿岸的大部分地区，目前正试图向卡布布山脉推进。专家表示，如果成功，这一进展可能会极大地改变也门战争的力量平衡。

近几个月来，与也门沙特支持、国际公认的政府结盟的武装力量之间的冲突再次爆发，结束了自 2022 年以来相对平静的局面。近日，冲突蔓延至俯瞰曼德海峡入口的崎岖高地，曼德海峡是世界上最重要的航运通道之一。

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该海峡连接印度洋与红海和苏伊士运河，随着胡塞武装的主要盟友伊朗继续阻挠霍尔木兹海峡的航运，其重要性日益凸显。

专家表示，占据制高点将有助于胡塞武装守住新近夺取的海岸线，并使政府军更难将其击退。虽然这些山脉未必会被用作攻击舰船的跳板，但控制这些山脉将为胡塞武装靠近海岸的阵地提供防御纵深和掩护，使其在红海的导弹和无人机行动更容易持续进行，也更难被干扰。

胡塞武装声称他们无意袭击美国船只，袭击目标仅限于与沙特阿拉伯有关的船只。但该组织近年来曾多次袭击红海船只，其中包括一些与他们宣称的目标并无明显关联的船只。

在《纽约时报》报道美国总统特朗普周日几乎下令对胡塞武装发动空袭，但最终在最后一刻取消后，胡塞武装的推进变得更加紧迫。与此同时，英国表示将为沙特阿拉伯提供防御性空中加油支持。

为什么卡布布具有重要的战略意义？

卡布布（Kahboub）是也门南部拉赫季省和塔伊兹省部分地区的山区，其战略重要性很大程度上源于它靠近曼德海峡。卡布布的一些高地距离曼德海峡约40公里（25英里），可以俯瞰红海沿岸的广阔区域，全球大量的海上贸易和数百万桶石油每天都要经过这里。

尽管该战略要地具有相当大的军事价值，但专家表示，这些山脉不太可能直接成为在红海发动袭击的跳板。对胡塞武装而言，它们更直接的重要性在于巩固其已占领的领土。

“这些山脉是保护胡塞武装在海岸后方的天然屏障。控制这些山脉将切断海岸与政府控制的南部之间的联系，并对拉赫季施加直接压力，从长远来看，还会对亚丁施加压力，”中东全球事务委员会访问学者法奥齐·阿尔-戈伊迪告诉半岛电视台。

确保后方安全将有助于胡塞武装阻止政府军从后方攻击其沿海阵地，或切断连接其新占领区的通道。在高地得到控制之前，驻扎在红海沿岸的胡塞武装仍然容易受到来自南部和东部政府军控制区的攻击。

因此，占领这些高地将使卡布布作为海上攻击的潜在跳板的重要性降低，而作为胡塞武装沿海岸取得军事进展的防御屏障的重要性则会降低。

伦敦政治经济学院访问高级研究员伊娃·K·斯特泽莱卡告诉半岛电视台，控制海岸线、马云岛和邻近的高地将使胡塞武装获得“战略韧性”。

她说：“如果胡塞武装能够控制海岸线、马云地区和邻近的高地，就能在世界主要海上咽喉要道之一周围获得更深远、更易防御的阵地。”

这些阵地将使胡塞武装能够沿着海岸线调动战士、武器和补给，同时降低后方路线被切断的风险。

伦敦国王学院安全研究学院高级讲师安德烈亚斯·克里格告诉半岛电视台：“胡塞武装可以利用高地监视沿海地区、马云岛周围以及咽喉要道方向的动向，同时保护部署在内陆更远处的导弹、无人机和潜在的无人船基础设施。”

这场战斗的进展速度已经超过了胡塞武装在沿海平原的快速推进。塔伊兹军事轴心指挥部媒体中心在X网站上发布的视频似乎显示，也门政府军、当地武装和胡塞武装在山区战线展开了激烈的战斗。半岛电视台无法独立核实该视频的真实性。

“这不是一场轻松的战斗，”分析人士、也门驻华盛顿大使馆前发言人穆罕默德·巴沙说。“战斗发生在也门一些地形最为险峻的地方，控制一个山顶或山峰都可能付出惨重的代价。”

胡塞武装能否通过控制卡布卜来孤立塔伊兹？

控制卡布布可能会对塔伊兹施加更大的压力。塔伊兹是一座具有象征意义和战略意义的城市，因为它是胡塞武装控制的北部地区与政府控制的南部地区及红海沿岸之间的桥梁。谁控制了塔伊兹，谁就能在内陆地区与南部港口城市亚丁之间调动武器和物资方面占据优势。因此，失去塔伊兹可能会对政府造成沉重打击。

萨那中心的编辑穆拉德·阿尔-阿雷菲告诉半岛电视台，攻占卡布布将“加大对塔伊兹南部和西部入口的压力”，但他同时警告说，这还不应被视为更广泛地包围该市的证据。

斯特雷泽莱卡表示，由于卡布布本身并不位于塔伊兹-亚丁路线的对峙地带，因此对塔伊兹-亚丁交通的直接威胁相对较小。“关键在于胡塞武装能否随后经由瓦齐亚进一步向东推进，并逼近图尔巴-拉赫吉一线，这将对塔伊兹南部通道造成更大的压力，并可能削弱其与亚丁的联系。”

因此，胡塞武装若进一步推进，将导致政府军同时在多个山地战线进行防御，而运送部队、武器和补给的安全通道却日益减少，塔伊兹的安全形势将愈发岌岌可危。塔伊兹是也门最大的人口中心之一，在2014年胡塞武装占领萨那后，成为抵抗胡塞武装的重要据点，并被该组织围困多年。因此，胡塞武装若在塔伊兹取得重大突破，其象征意义将远远超出所占领的领土范围。

这对红海航运意味着什么？

官方说法是，胡塞武装表示，他们目前在曼德海峡实施的限制措施仅适用于与沙特阿拉伯有关的航运。

但在其之前的红海行动中，该组织袭击或危及了一些与以色列并无明确关联的船只——而以色列在加沙种族灭绝战争期间，该组织声称的袭击目标正是以色列——这引发了人们对任何新限制措施的适用范围的质疑。占领卡布布山脉将进一步巩固胡塞武装的地位，帮助他们控制俯瞰曼德海峡的海岸线，并使他们的对手更难将其击退。

兰卡斯特大学国际关系教授西蒙·马邦告诉半岛电视台，这次攻势表明胡塞武装正在利用其势头夺取更多领土，削弱对手，并“进一步控制也门”。

“这是胡塞武装试图夺取更多领土，削弱敌人的能力，同时增强其封锁曼德海峡的战略能力，”马邦说。