Yemeni military says it has 'secured' Red Sea waterway

BREAKING: Yemen's Saudi-backed military says it has 'secured' the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, with conflicting reports over whether its forces have also seized the port city of Mokha.

Yemen's government says it now controls the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's most important shipping chokepoints.

That narrow stretch of water sits at the southern gate of the Red Sea, and whoever holds it holds a lever over global trade. Saudi-backed forces, the National Shield and the Giants Brigades among them, say they took it at the start of a major offensive against the Houthis, with Saudi jets flying what the coalition calls round-the-clock air support, 324 targets destroyed so far.

The military also claims it captured the port city of Mokha on Monday. Government sources told Reuters and AFP a different story, that troops only reached the outskirts while Houthi fighters pulled back. You can see the forces they're up against here, and the Houthis themselves aren't commenting on Mokha at all.

Operations have reportedly opened on the Sanaa front too, the capital the Houthis have held for twelve years. Houthi media say Saudi strikes there killed a schoolgirl and a woman on Monday. This war just entered its most dangerous phase in a decade.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.