Yemen’s internationally recognized government has announced a major military campaign to retake all Houthi-held territory, marking a new escalation in a civil war that had been largely frozen for several years before battles intensified in recent weeks. The announcement by Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the executive body of the Yemeni government, comes after weeks of intense fighting and major advances by the Houthis along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the strategically important city of Taiz. Recommended Stories 3-item listend list On Monday, Yemeni government forces said they were launching a “strategic” offensive against the Yemeni capital. country, Sanaa, which the Houthis have controlled since 2014. Earlier in the day, Yemeni forces, who are backed by Saudi Arabia, said they had regained control of the Dhubab district on the country’s western coast, near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, although the Houthis denied the announcement. The Yemeni government later said it had also captured the port city of Mocha. Fighting between the Iran-aligned Houthis (an armed group also known as Ansar Allah, which means Supporters of God in Arabic) and Yemeni government forces has expanded since a fragile 2022 truce collapsed in July, displacing more than 100,000 people since then. Last month, the Houthis launched a rapid offensive that captured about 150 kilometers (93 miles) of the Red Sea coast and areas around Bab al-Mandeb, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, which is a critical route for international shipping. On Monday, the foreign minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government called for more support from the international community to defeat the Houthis, saying it is “in the global interest” for the country to be stable. seizes their will by force of arms and destroys the lives of their children, after exhausting all opportunities for de-escalation and peace,” Afrah al-Zouba said in a post on al-Nuzaili said the attacks targeted artillery and rocket positions, fortifications, supply lines, reinforcements and command centers Al-Nuzaili said fighter jets, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers were involved and that 364 military and logistics vehicles had been destroyed or disabled. Casualty figures and equipment could not be independently verified. Yemen’s internationally recognized government also announced that its forces had taken control of Dhubab and. Mocha on the Red Sea coast and were launching a major offensive in Sanaa. Elsewhere, the frontline in the Marib governorate in northeastern Yemen witnessed an escalation of fighting on Monday. A military source told Al Jazeera that government forces launched an attack on Houthi positions on the Raghwan front in the north of the governorate, coinciding with raids against Houthi positions and reinforcements. Houthis near Mount Helan, as well as a weapons depot and military reinforcements northwest of Marib. On Sunday, a Saudi-led coalition said its forces carried out 97 strikes against Houthi reinforcements around Taiz and the Tor al-Baha front using fighter jets, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers. around the strategic city are relying on guerrilla tactics aimed at relieving pressure on the coastal front and strengthening the blockade of the road to Aden. What has the Yemeni government announced? The AFP news agency quoted four security sources as saying the Houthis had cut off a vital supply route linking Taiz to Aden, the Yemeni government’s interim capital. Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia are riding in the back of a military truck on the Jabal front. Han, west of the city of Taiz. [Ahmad al-Basha/AFP]The Houthis have controlled Sana’a and much of Yemen’s northwestern town since 2014. Saudi Arabia intervened militarily the following year at the head of a coalition supporting the internationally recognized government, but failed to dislodge the group. A United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 brought years of relative calm before fighting escalated again this year. The latest round of fighting has largely focused on the Red Sea coast and Taiz. Ibrahim Jalal, a Yemeni defense analyst, said he believes the government and its allies face a formidable rival in the Houthis. The Houthis’ missile arsenal, the precision of their drones and military “capabilities” have increased with the support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he told Al Jazeera. It reinforced its place in Tehran’s “axis of resistance” and gave the IRGC a way to shift pressure from the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandeb on the Red Sea, he said. (Al Jazeera) What did Saudi Arabia say? Saudi Arabia has pledged continued support to the internationally recognized government. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Saudi Arabia and its allies would continue to support Yemen until state institutions were restored and the Houthi threat to shipping in the south was removed. The Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb ended. Al-Maliki said Saudi Arabia had an “inherent right” to defend its sovereignty and take military measures to deter Houthi offensives, citing attacks in Riyadh, Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan, Najran, Taif and Yanbu in recent weeks.
