Ansarullah Forces Claim Capture of Al-Aghbara Mountains Overlooking Bab al-Mandab
The reported advance in Yemen’s Lahij province would strengthen the group’s positions around the strategic Red Sea strait
IRNA, citing a Yemeni news outlet and local sources, reports that forces affiliated with Ansarullah captured the Al-Aghbara mountain range in Lahij province, overlooking Bab al-Mandab. The report says Saudi-backed Amaliqa Brigade forces withdrew, and claims the advance strengthens Sana’a-aligned forces’ surveillance and positions around the strait. The account has not been independently confirmed in the supplied evidence.
**TEHRAN** — Forces affiliated with Yemen’s Ansarullah movement have reportedly taken control of the Al-Aghbara mountain range in the Al-Mudharaba area of Lahij province, overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea.
Iran’s IRNA news agency, citing a Yemeni news outlet, reported on Friday that the advance followed an attack by forces affiliated with Saudi Arabia. According to local sources cited in the report, the Saudi-backed Amaliqa Brigade, also known as the Southern Giants Brigade, withdrew from the area and abandoned its positions.
The reported operation extended the control of forces aligned with Sana’a over the Al-Aghbara mountain range in the Al-Mudharaba and Ras al-Ara areas, as well as parts of the Kahbub mountain range overlooking Bab al-Mandab, the report said.
### Reported strategic significance
The mountain positions are described as having a commanding view of the Bab al-Mandab area. According to the cited local sources, control of Al-Aghbara would improve the forces’ ability to monitor the surrounding region and make it more difficult for opposing forces to assemble or maneuver near the strait and along Yemen’s western coast.
The sources also said that forces aligned with Sana’a had assured local tribes that their operations were directed only at concentrations of Saudi-backed forces.
The reported capture forms part of a broader series of advances described by IRNA. In recent days, forces affiliated with Ansarullah have reportedly pushed back Yemeni fighters supported by Saudi Arabia and taken control of the historic port city of Al-Mokha, as well as the strategically important coastal area of Kahbub in southern Yemen.
The report characterized these developments as strengthening the Yemeni army’s control over Bab al-Mandab, one of the world’s major shipping routes. It also said that Yemeni army forces had retaken a number of strategic islands, describing the moves as contributing to control of the waterway.
### Claims remain subject to independent confirmation
The account is based on reporting by IRNA and unnamed local sources cited by that outlet. The supplied report does not include an independent confirmation from the Amaliqa Brigade, Saudi Arabia, or other parties to the conflict. It also provides no operational details, such as the timing of the fighting, the size of the forces involved, or casualty figures.
Consequently, the reported capture of the Al-Aghbara mountains and the broader territorial changes should be understood as claims presented by the cited sources rather than independently verified facts.