Forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi drove Houthi fighters from two towns they had seized hours earlier on Tuesday, thwarting an advance by the Shi'ite fighters towards the southern city of Aden where Hadi is believed to have taken refuge in a presidential compound, NBC News reported. Other Houthi units entered the Red Sea port of al-Mukha overnight placing the Iranian-backed fighters a short drive from the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a sealane vital to oil shipments, security officials and residents said. Over the weekend the U.S. military evacuated its advisors and intelligence officials from Yemen as the situation became increasingly chaotic.
