CNN, in an exclusive report posted yesterday afternoon, reported that more than 100 US military advisers are on the ground in Saudi Arabia providing intelligence and targeting support to the Kingdom in its military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. “Multiple sources familiar with the effort” told the network that the US advisors are working as part of a newly established joint forces command, which was formed in recent weeks amid signs Iran was ramping up its own efforts to aid Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia, one of the sources, a US official, said.

However, there are currently tight limits to the US support, the sources say. The US is sharing intelligence with Saudi Arabia—as it routinely does already—but it is not participating directly in strikes. The US is also not helping refuel Saudi warplanes.

The effort is instead focused on ensuring Saudi Arabia’s operations run smoothly and professionally, one of the sources said. All of the sources characterized the effort as an extension of preexisting cooperation and training the US was already providing to Saudi Arabia.

The CNN report emerged as Houthi forces were advancing down the Red Sea coast towards Dhubab after seizing the port city of Mocha. Houthi forces have since captured Dhubab, about 45 km down the Red Sea coast, Murad, which sits directly on the strait, and the island of Perim, which divides the Bab el Mandeb Strait into two channels.

The Houthi “lightning advance” came with the “direct guidance” of the IRGC which is seeking to open a second front against the US, Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources told Reuters. “By seizing the southwestern port city of Mocha, the Houthis have strengthened their chokehold on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait…” Reuters reports, adding that “the group now looks focused on consolidating that grip on the strait even as opposing government forces backed by Saudi Arabia focus on an offensive in the north.”