By Mohammed Ghobari and Timour Azhari
Sept 24 (Reuters) - Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces repelled overnight attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on a key supply route to the southern port city of Aden where the internationally recognised administration is based, government sources said on Thursday.
The steep, winding mountain pass, known as Hejat al-Abd, is a lifeline for forces fighting on behalf of Yemen's government, which has been hemmed in by a lightning Houthi advance this month linked to the Iran war.
The road is also critical for goods entering Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, and its southern and western rural areas. It is the only route for residents seeking to travel abroad, with no commercial flights operating from Houthi-controlled areas.
The Houthis have kept up pressure on government forces as they seek to consolidate gains made nearly two weeks ago, when their offensive along Yemen's western coast brought them to the shores of the Red Sea's strategic Bab el-Mandeb waterway.
FLAREUP IN YEMEN'S CIVIL WAR BROADENS MIDEAST CONFLICT
Seizing parts of the Taiz-Aden road could allow the Houthis to tighten their grip around Taiz and deal another blow to the government, which has struggled to regain the initiative since losing the western coast.
The latest fighting marks a sharp escalation in Yemen's civil war, which had largely been frozen since a 2022 truce. The Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year in support of the internationally recognised government.
Fighting has flared along several old front lines in recent weeks, including around Taiz, as the Houthis swept south along Yemen's Red Sea coast.
The group seized the port of Mocha before taking the remaining Red Sea coastline and islands, extending its control to the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Bab el-Mandeb is one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and forming a key artery for trade between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.
About 7% of global oil output passed through the strait in June, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters.
The Houthi advance along the Red Sea coast also threatens a key alternative route used by Saudi Arabia to export oil when shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted.
More than 700 people have been killed and thousands wounded in the latest fighting, according to the United Nations. Nearly 130,000 Yemenis have been displaced within the country, while more than 3,000 have fled by boat across the Red Sea to Africa.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Timour Azhari; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
