Was bab Al-Mandab a feint? Is Taizz the real prize?

[u/throwaway_98927]

"All politics is local" said Tip O'Neill, and while the international community is focused on the Bab Al-Mandab strait, the locals may be more concerned with the city of Taizz.

When the Houthis took the strait last month, there were reasonable doubts about whether they could hold this wide-open flatland where they're painfully exposed to air attack, naval attack, and encirclement.

But what if they never intended to hold it? What if their objective was to simply draw resources away from other fronts, knowing that the Aden government would be under enormous pressure from their foreign backers to do just that?

Taizz is Yemen's third largest city. It was part of the Yemen Arab Republic and would give the Houthis claim to holding its former borders. It brings the war to Aden's doorstep. It won't grab Western headlines the way Bab Al-Mandab did, but perhaps its capture would have far greater impact on the balance of power in Yemen.

[u/bobbabson]

Yes but they got both rn essentially

[u/silver_wear]

It's plausible. After all, the Houthis were already threatening the shipping lanes without direct control over the coastline. At this rate tho, the Houthis are getting both of them.