Houthis push for control of Yemen highlands as Trump reported to have called off airstrikes

US President Donald Trump reportedly called off the airstrikes at the last minute, even as troops were loading bombs onto aircraft. Houthi fighters were pushing to seize strategic heights in Yemen on Monday to cut off the Red Sea coast from remaining areas held by Saudi-backed forces, after a report that President Donald Trump had called off US strikes on the group at the last minute. A lightning advance by the group this month has extended the wider Middle East conflict to a new theatre and further threatened global energy supplies.

Washington has so far rebuffed repeated pleas from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to join the fight in Yemen. The Houthis said on Saturday they had fired on Riyadh, where loud booms were followed by columns of smoke visible near the airport. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the first apparent strikes on the capital since the escalation began.

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had prepared on Sunday to launch airstrikes against the Houthis after fresh pleas from the Saudi crown prince. But the newspaper said Trump called off the airstrikes at the last minute, even as troops were loading bombs onto aircraft. Read: Mohsin Naqvi received by Iranian interior minister on arrival in Iran: Iranian media Reuters could not immediately verify the report, and the US military's Central Command did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Fighting in Highlands The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen's capital since 2014, seized the country's Red Sea coast this month in a lightning advance that routed forces of an internationally recognised Yemeni government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia and based in the south. Saudi Arabia has launched hundreds of strikes in recent days on the fighters' positions in the highlands, according to the Houthis. But the air power advantage has so far done little to slow the advance of the fighters as Saudi-backed government forces have melted away.

According to the United Nations, nearly 700 people have been killed and thousands injured in the flare-up in fighting. More than 120,000 Yemenis have fled homes within Yemen, and thousands more have fled by boat across the Red Sea to Africa. Five Yemeni military sources told Reuters the Houthis were now seeking to seize strategic heights, known as the Kahboub Mountains, in two provinces, Taiz and Lahij, which separate the Red Sea coast from the government-held south.

Fighting has centred on the outskirts of the remote mountain Al-Wazi'iyah district in Taiz…