Houthis move to seize strategic terrain after Trump calls off airstrikes at last minute – The Guardian

Houthis move to seize strategic terrain after Trump calls off airstrikes at last minute  The GuardianTrump Gets Caught in a Dilemma Over a Saudi Plea for Military Help  The New York TimesHouthis push for control of Yemen highlands as Trump is said to have called off strikes  ReutersIran-backed Houthi rebels warn against joining Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s growing civil war  AP NewsTrump weighed strikes against Houthis in Yemen before holding off  Axios

US president reportedly changed his mind over Saudi Arabia’s pleas for assistance as bombs were being loaded Houthi fighters are moving to seize strategic heights in Yemen that would cut the Red Sea coast off from areas held ​by Saudi-backed forces after Donald Trump called off US strikes on the group at the last minute, reportedly as bombs were being loaded on to aircraft. Amid increasingly heavy fighting in Yemen, which has displaced tens of thousands of people in recent weeks, the New York Times reported on Monday that the US president had flip-flopped wildly in recent days after a call from Saudi Arabia for US strikes on the Houthis.

It comes amid the Houthis’ rapid advance on the ground with the group gaining control over much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and advancing to areas adjacent to the crucial Bab al-Mandab strait, which Saudi Arabia has used as an alternative route for oil exports bypassing disruption in the ⁠strait of Hormuz. In the call reported by the New York Times, Saudi