Yemen: Government Announces Major Offensive to Retake Strategic District on West Coast

Yemen's internationally recognized government has announced a major military campaign aimed at retaking all territory controlled by the Houthi movement, marking a new escalation in a civil war that had been largely frozen for years before fighting reignited in recent weeks.

The announcement was made by Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the executive body of the Yemeni government. It came after weeks of intense fighting and significant Houthi advances along the Red Sea coast and around the strategic city of Taiz.

On Monday, Yemeni government forces said they had regained control of Dhubab district on the western coast near the Bab al-Mandab strait after clashes with the Houthis. The Houthis denied the claim.

Fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia has spread since a fragile 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July, displacing more than 100,000 people.

Last month, the Houthis launched a rapid offensive, capturing about 150km of Red Sea coastline and areas around Bab al-Mandab, the narrow maritime corridor linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and a vital route for international shipping.

On Monday, the internationally recognized government's foreign minister called on the international community to provide more support to defeat the Houthis, saying Yemen's stability is "in the interest of the world."

"We call on our brothers, friends and the international community to support the Yemeni people, their state and national institutions in confronting the terrorist Houthi force — a force that uses violence to seize the will of the people and destroy the lives of their children — after all opportunities for de-escalation and peace have been exhausted," Afrah Al-Zouba wrote on X.

Latest fighting developments

Yemen's government military said on Monday that 1,747 Houthi fighters had been "neutralized" in 1,122 military operations across Saada, al-Jawf and Taiz provinces and along Yemen's western coast.

Military spokesman Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili said the strikes targeted artillery and rocket positions, fortifications, supply lines, reinforcements and command centers.

Al-Nuzaili said warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers took part, along with 364 military and logistical vehicles destroyed or disabled. The casualty and equipment figures have not been independently verified.

Elsewhere, the front in northeastern Marib province saw fighting escalate on Monday.

A military source told Al Jazeera that government forces launched an attack on Houthi positions on the Ragwan front in the north of the province, alongside air strikes targeting Houthi positions and reinforcements.

The source said the air strikes targeted Houthi positions near Mount Helan, as well as a weapons depot and military reinforcements in northwestern Marib.

On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said its forces carried out 97 strikes against Houthi reinforcements around Taiz and the Tor al-Baha front, using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.

On developments in Taiz, Al Jazeera's Yemen bureau chief, Saeed Thabet, said Houthi operations in the countryside around the strategic city rely on guerrilla tactics aimed at relieving pressure on the coastal front and tightening the siege on the road to Aden.

What did the Yemeni government announce?

Al-Alimi said on Sunday that government forces had been ordered to launch military campaigns to retake Houthi-held territory and restore state authority across Yemen.

"We have instructed the armed forces, security forces and all military formations to begin carrying out their assigned tasks according to the approved plan until the country is liberated from the Houthis," Al-Alimi said.

Military sources told Reuters that in the preceding 48 hours, the Houthis attacked government and local forces on strategic hilltops near Taiz, pushing along the last remaining route linking the city to Aden on Yemen's southern coast. Meanwhile, AFP cited four security sources as saying the Houthis had cut a key supply route linking the besieged city of Taiz to Aden, the temporary capital of the Yemeni government.

The Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa and much of Yemen's densely populated northwest since 2014. Saudi Arabia intervened militarily the following year, leading a coalition in support of the internationally recognized government but failing to push the group back.

A UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022 brought several years of relative calm before fighting escalated again this year. The latest round of fighting has focused heavily on the Red Sea coast and Taiz.

Ibrahim Jalal, a Yemen defense analyst, said he believes the Yemeni government and its allies face a formidable adversary in the Houthis.

He told Al Jazeera that the Houthis' missile stockpile, drone precision and "military capabilities have increased" thanks to support from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to him, after joining the US-Israeli war against Iran on their own timetable, the Houthis strengthened their position within the Tehran-led "axis of resistance" and gave the IRGC a way to shift pressure from the Strait of Hormuz to Bab al-Mandab in the Red Sea.

What did Saudi Arabia say?

Saudi Arabia pledged to continue supporting the internationally recognized government.

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said Saudi Arabia and its allies will continue to support Yemen until state institutions are restored and the Houthi threat to shipping in the southern Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab ends.

Al-Malki also said Saudi Arabia has an "inherent right" to defend its sovereignty and take military measures to deter Houthi attacks, citing strikes on Riyadh, Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan, Najran, Taif and Yanbu in recent weeks.