By Robek Irfan — The Changer
ADEN — Yemen’s internationally recognised government has launched an ambitious military campaign to roll back Houthi territorial gains, shifting the country’s conflict from years of uneasy containment toward a renewed battle for control of strategic land and shipping routes stretching from Taiz to the Red Sea.
Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi announced the operation on Sunday, ordering government armed forces, security units and allied military formations to begin implementing plans aimed at restoring state authority across Yemen. The declaration sets a far broader objective than stabilising the latest front lines: the government says it ultimately intends to recover all remaining territory under Houthi control.
The timing, however, shows how difficult that objective will be. The offensive begins after the Houthis seized significant territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast in a rapid September advance, strengthening their position around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints. The group has also intensified pressure around Taiz, where fighting threatens the government’s land connection towards its interim capital, Aden. Reuters
That makes the government’s immediate challenge less about recapturing the Houthi-held capital Sanaa than preventing Yemen’s military geography from shifting further in the Houthis’ favour.
Security sources reported on Sunday that Houthi forces had taken the al-Safiya area and cut a principal supply route between government-held Taiz and Aden. Taiz itself remains under government control, but Houthi positions already surround the city from several directions, raising the prospect that pressure on its remaining supply lines could turn the battle into one of the most consequential fronts of the renewed war. Dawn
Heavy fighting has already inflicted significant losses. Sources from the two sides reported more than 70 fighters killed around Taiz and neighboring areas over roughly a day, while government and Saudi-backed forces have carried out extensive strikes against Houthi positions and reinforcements. Claims by the combatants about casualties and battlefield damage remain difficult to independently verify. Dawn
The government’s campaign also puts Bab al-Mandeb near the center of the conflict. Houthi gains along the Red Sea coastline have increased the movement’s leverage over a maritime corridor connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and, ultimately, the Indian Ocean.
For Saudi Arabia, reversing those gains has strategic implications beyond Yemen. Riyadh has backed Yemen’s internationally recognised government for years, and reporting on preparations for the new operation indicates that the counteroffensive had been planned with Saudi support for weeks, with recovering the Bab al-Mandeb area among its key objectives. Axios
The renewed campaign is therefore developing simultaneously as a Yemeni territorial war and a regional security confrontation.
The Houthis have responded to escalating fighting by again targeting Saudi Arabia. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco facilities in Riyadh and the eastern Khurais area. Saudi Arabia has meanwhile continued military operations against Houthi positions, further eroding the relative calm that had prevailed across much of the Yemen-Saudi front after the 2022 truce. Dawn
Yemen’s conflict had remained comparatively contained for several years despite the absence of a comprehensive political settlement. That balance has now broken down, with renewed fighting unfolding against the backdrop of a wider Middle East confrontation involving Iran, Israel and the United States.
The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, seized Sanaa in 2014 and subsequently established control over much of Yemen’s northwest, where a large share of the country’s population lives. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 on behalf of the internationally recognised government but failed to decisively defeat the movement despite years of warfare. Reuters
That history hangs over al-Alimi’s sweeping promise to restore government authority across the entire country. Previous military campaigns backed by Saudi Arabia and other partners failed to dislodge the Houthis from their northern strongholds, while the movement has since developed more sophisticated missile and drone capabilities.
The latest operation therefore faces two different measures of success.
Its declared political objective is nationwide restoration of state authority. Its more immediate military test is whether government and allied forces can reopen threatened supply routes around Taiz, halt Houthi advances and begin reversing the movement’s recent gains along the Red Sea.
Failure to do so could leave the Houthis controlling not only their longstanding northern heartland but also strategically valuable positions overlooking international shipping. Success, by contrast, could force the movement to defend newly acquired territory across an extended front and give the government greater leverage in any future negotiations.
There is also a mounting humanitarian cost. Years of conflict have already left Yemen dependent on international assistance, and renewed large-scale fighting has displaced civilians and further strained access to food and basic services. The World Food Programme has warned of severe food insecurity as the renewed conflict compounds the country’s existing economic and humanitarian crisis. Dawn
For now, al-Alimi’s announcement marks a strategic gamble rather than a battlefield victory. The government has declared that it wants to reclaim Yemen, but the first measure of whether that ambition is militarily achievable will come much closer to Taiz and Bab al-Mandeb than to Sanaa.