Yemeni government forces seize control of Bab el-Mandeb Strait, minister says

JUST IN: Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have seized effective control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen's information minister says, though fighting with Houthi forces continues.

Yemen's government says it has taken back the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani says Saudi-backed forces now hold effective control of the strait, the same chokepoint the Houthis captured last month and rattled energy markets with. You can see it here on the satellite view, the narrowest squeeze on the whole route between the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean.

The advance came fast along the coast, with heavy Saudi air support, and Eryani says troops have seized the Dhubab airstrip just inland and cut off the remaining Houthi fighters in the area. But hold the celebration. Another government source says fighting is still going at a military base near the strait, and the Houthis call the whole claim completely untrue. These are file pictures of their forces, who held this coastline a week ago.

So one side says it's over, the other says it never happened, and tankers are still waiting to find out who's telling the truth.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.