Saudi and Yemeni Forces Attack Houthis to Retake Control of Red Sea Coast

BREAKING: Saudi and Yemeni forces launch an offensive against the Houthis to retake control of the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Saudi and Yemeni forces have launched an offensive against the Houthis, and the prize is the Red Sea coast.

The target that matters is the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and you can see it here on the map. It's a chokepoint barely eighteen miles wide, and a huge share of global shipping has to squeeze through it to reach the Suez Canal. The Houthis have used that geography for years, turning file footage like this into higher insurance premiums and rerouted cargo for everyone else.

Details from the ground are still thin. What we know is the shape of it, a joint Saudi and Yemeni government push to take the coastline back, which would be the most direct attempt yet to break the Houthis' grip on that water.

If this offensive works, the world's shipping lanes change overnight. If it stalls, the Red Sea stays a war zone with a toll booth.

This is Dave King, reporting for HIT.