00:0080 fighters lost one day. That is the casualty count around Yemen's Taiz, according to sources
00:06on both sides who spoke to AFP on Friday. But here is what the headlines are missing.
00:11Saudi Arabia spent years trying to walk out of Yemen's war. Then Iran squeezed Hormuz and the
00:18Red Sea became Riyadh's alternative route for oil exports. Then the Houthis, Iran's ally,
00:24took control of the whole Red Sea coast, including the area around Bab al-Mandab. On Thursday,
00:30they knocked out a bridge linking government-held areas to Aden. Iran never had to beat Saudi Arabia
00:37at sea. It closed one door and its ally took the other. For Riyadh, this is survival of its exports.
00:43For Tehran, it is leverage over the world's energy map. For Washington, busy sending 9,000 more troops
00:50to the Middle East, it is a second front it cannot ignore. The UN envoy, Hans Grunberg,
00:56warned that Houthi operations pose grave risks to the civilian population.
