A Decade of Conflict in Yemen: Houthis Hold Sanaa as Neither Side Controls the Country
Alia Chughtai và Abubakr Al-Shamahi, Al Jazeera English
A decade of war has redrawn Yemen's front lines, but the Houthis still hold the capital Sanaa and no party controls the whole country. Maps compiled by AJLabs trace how alliances and territorial control shifted from the 2014 capture of Sanaa through the latest fighting in Taiz and along the Red Sea coast.
Based on AJLabs' compilation of territorial-control maps spanning more than a decade, the war in Yemen has repeatedly reshuffled alliances and front lines, while the country continues to face poverty and malnutrition.
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, seized the capital Sanaa on September 21, 2014, after advancing south from their base in Saada in the north. The group tapped public anger after the government cut fuel subsidies in July 2014 to build support, launching protests demanding the decisions be reversed and the government resign. An alliance with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh helped the Houthis take military positions and state institutions.
In February 2015, then-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to Aden. As Houthi and Saleh forces advanced on the southern port city, Hadi took refuge in Riyadh. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention aimed at restoring the internationally recognized government.
October 2016
By late 2016, two years after the Houthis took Sanaa, Yemen was divided into rival zones of control. The Houthi-Saleh alliance held Sanaa and most of the northern and western core, where most of the population lives. Pro-government forces held territory in the south and east with backing from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) also challenged the authorities in parts of the south.
December 2017
The anti-government alliance fractured badly after Saleh showed signs of switching sides, leading to brief fighting with the Houthis, who then killed the former president in Sanaa. The Houthis — a Zaidi Shia group — have since held full control of much of northwestern Yemen, including Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah. Some pro-Saleh forces switched sides; pro-government and anti-Houthi forces controlled territory in the south and east, while AQAP retained small bases. Nearly three years into the intervention, despite heavy airstrikes, the Saudi-led coalition had still not restored Hadi's government in Sanaa.
March 2019
The Houthis continued to hold Sanaa and most of the northwestern highlands. Pro-government forces controlled large areas in the south and east, and AQAP still had small bases. The December 2018 Stockholm Agreement halted a pro-government offensive on Houthi-held Hodeidah — the main gateway for food, fuel and aid. Neither side won a decisive victory; divisions within opposing ranks further weakened efforts to establish a government.
2022
The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seized Aden in 2019, controlled territory separately from government forces. Although nominally part of the Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition, the STC repeatedly clashed with the government. Hadi was forced to hand power to an eight-member Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), ending his term without retaking the capital.
April 2023
Saudi-Houthi talks raised hopes for a deal and led to an April 2022 ceasefire, but Yemen remained as divided as in previous years. The Houthis held the northwest; the STC continued to weaken the internationally recognized government to boost its power in the south, aiming for the basis of a future independent state. Government forces controlled large areas in the east — territory the separatists also want for their future state. The UAE-backed Hadrami Elite controlled the Hadramout coast; the National Resistance Forces (NRF) led by Tareq Saleh, the former president's nephew, and backed by the UAE, held part of the Red Sea coast.
March 2025
By 2025, the Houthis had held Sanaa and much of northwestern Yemen continuously for more than a decade. Pro-government forces operated in the south and east. Houthi attacks on shipping — which the group said were in support of Palestinians in Gaza — drew strikes from Israel, Britain and the United States. Yemen's coastline and the Bab al-Mandeb strait became the focus of a confrontation with consequences far beyond the country's borders.
January 2026
Government forces retook Hadramout and al-Mahra from the STC, which had seized the provinces in December 2025. Saudi airstrikes and the government advance fractured the STC leadership. A delegation in Riyadh announced the STC's dissolution, but coalition officials in Yemen rejected the move, and leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi left the country. The map showed contested power in parts of the south and on Socotra island; Tareq Saleh's forces were still tracked separately along the western coast, while the Houthis held Sanaa and the northwest. The PLC sought to unify anti-Houthi forces; retaking territory strengthened its position, but building a unified command remained incomplete.
September 8, 2026
In early September, the Houthis attacked west of Taiz to cut the road to the Red Sea coast. Government forces initially claimed gains in Hais and western Taiz, but the port city of Mocha fell on September 10 when Tareq Saleh's NRF withdrew and redeployed. By September 11, government sources said Houthi forces had entered Dhubab and Mayyun island, completing their takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coast. According to UNICEF, by September 25 nearly 130,000 people, including 71,000 children, had been displaced in three weeks. PLC Chairman Rashad al-Alimi called for general mobilization and offered amnesty to Houthi fighters who defected. Late in the month, the government stepped up airstrikes and ground operations in Taiz, while Saudi Arabia sought support from Pakistan and Turkey as Houthi attacks continued.
October 13, 2026
After announcing Operation Yemen Dawn on October 4, the internationally recognized government launched a major campaign on October 5 with the stated goal of retaking areas including Sanaa. The Giants Brigade fought alongside government troops and units that had once belonged to the STC.
The same day, the government said its forces had retaken positions around Dhubab and Bab al-Mandeb, but could not confirm the full extent of the gains along the coast. The government also said it had captured mountain positions in Haifan, west of Taiz, and around al-Waziiya.
Fighting spread to Marib, where by October 13 government forces claimed control of heights around the Maas camp and positions north of Harib.
Despite these claimed victories, the government also lost territory in Taiz province, leading to the encirclement of Taiz city — one of the most important government-held areas — with the main road linking the city to the south now in Houthi hands.
The escalation deepened the humanitarian crisis; according to the International Organization for Migration, more than 200,000 people had been displaced by October 7, including more than 3,700 who crossed the sea to Djibouti.
Airstrikes by the government and the Saudi-led coalition increased, including on Sanaa. Meanwhile, the Houthis repeatedly attacked Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles, including an October 10 strike on Riyadh airport that killed 13 people.
