Yemeni government forces said on 6 October they had captured new positions in Haifan district, south of Taiz, as the Saudi-led coalition reported a naval operation in Hodeidah aimed at protecting shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The advances were announced a day after government-aligned forces claimed to have retaken the Red Sea port city of Mokha. The Houthis denied that Mokha had fallen, Al Jazeera reported.

The Taiz military command said its forces and allied Popular Resistance fighters had captured the mountains of al-Manzara, al-Asharif and Dhiban in Haifan, according to a report by the German news agency dpa published by Egypt’s Al-Shorouk newspaper.
The same report carried a competing account from Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea. Speaking through the group’s Al-Masirah television channel, he claimed Houthi forces were continuing to pursue Saudi-backed troops in Taiz and that some had fled.
The announcement concerning Mokha named the Nation Shield Forces, Giants Brigades and Tihamah Resistance among the units involved. Yemen Monitor, citing a military source quoted by the government’s Saba news agency, reported that the forces had fought with air support.

Separately, coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said the naval operation had thwarted imminent attacks on waterways in the southern Red Sea, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The newspaper reported that he announced the destruction of weapons stores, facilities housing explosive-laden boats and naval mines. The coalition also claimed to have destroyed a ballistic missile launch platform in Sanaa and a mountain storage site containing 20 ballistic missiles in Saada.

The military operations coincided with an emergency meeting in Riyadh on 5 October between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey under their Makkah defence alliance.

A joint statement called for the rapid deployment of agreed forces and military capabilities to Saudi Arabia, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said the partners had agreed to activate collective deterrence measures in response to attacks on the kingdom.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the discussions also covered resolving the situation peacefully and through dialogue, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The deployment statement did not specify troop numbers, contributing countries or a timetable, according to the Associated Press.