A Viral Video of "The Welcome of the Residents of the City of Taiz in Yemen to the Houthi Forces".. What is its Truth?

- A video has circulated on social media, amid claims of its connection to the reception of Houthi forces by the residents of a city in the vital Taiz governorate in southwestern Yemen. The 27-second video has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on X, showing crowded streets, vehicles, and cheering crowds.

Posts on X claimed that the footage depicted a warm and welcoming reception for the Houthi forces by the residents of the city of "Turbah" in southern Taiz. When we conducted a reverse image search, there was an older version dated September 22, during the time of the Houthis' takeover of the strategic city of Al-Mokha overlooking the Red Sea.

Upon scrutinizing the elements of the circulated video, we noticed the appearance of several signs related to the city of Al-Mokha, including a sign that read "Al-As'ad Pharmacy," which is located at this point on Google Maps. The video's spread coincided with reports about the Houthis' control over the city of "Turbah" on Sunday.

The city plays an important role in transporting supplies to the Yemeni government-aligned forces in Taiz governorate. Earlier on Sunday, the internationally recognized Yemeni government announced the start of a large-scale military operation described as the "Liberation Battle," aimed at repelling the advances made by the Houthi group since last month along the Red Sea coast.