From Moon of Alabama blog

https://x.com/HormuzLetter/status/2098919235028242524

The Hormuz Letter  @HormuzLetter

BREAKING: Saudi-backed Yemeni battalions that Yemen’s Houthis found at Mocha on Thursday were at about 20% of their paper strength, with some units nearly 80% “ghost soldiers,” fake troops who existed solely on paper to collect salaries, per CNN.

Saudi Arabia flew not a single airstrike during the advance despite minute-by-minute updates, while CENTCOM told Yemeni commanders pleading for air cover that it was “watching the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming.” It never came, Mocha fell within the day, and Perim Island the next.

“A Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions,” a regional source says, calling it “a disaster made in Washington DC and Riyadh,” adding that “the failure this time is not with the Yemenis” and that there is no united command and control in Yemen. The two calls MBS made to Trump asking for US strikes came on the same day the Saudi air force didn’t fly.

http://Posted by: michaelj72 | Sep 13 2026 21:57 utc