India, Oct. 6 -- The Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive on Monday to take back strategic points on the coast around the crucial Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the government revealed. The offensive is part of a larger effort to push Iran-backed Houthis out of the areas they seized in fighting last month.

The full-scale military campaign has now also received active participation from Pakistan and Turkey, co-signatories of the Mecca Pact with Saudi Arabia, which pledges mutual defense in case of an attack on any one of the three members.

The reignition of Yemen's civil war and the Houthis' offensive have gained particular importance in light of the ongoing US-Iran war which has virtually negated the transit of oil via the...