After Red Sea losses, Yemen’s government forces hold the line | Conflict News
Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Intensify Attacks Amid Stalled Frontlines
Air strikes and difficult terrain hinder Houthi progress on multiple fronts
Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched significant assaults across frontlines in the Taiz governorate on Thursday, seeking to capitalize on their recent capture of the country’s Red Sea coast. The Iran-aligned group has intensified its offensive, but Yemeni government forces have managed to maintain their positions and claim to have inflicted substantial losses on the Houthis.
Despite the Houthi efforts, there are few indications that the Saudi-backed government plans to initiate a robust counteroffensive soon. This follows a call for general mobilization issued by Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, on September 25.
Instead, the government appears to be taking a measured approach. Officials are working to strengthen military capabilities gradually and improve coordination among forces. Abdul Basir al-Bahr, a senior official from the Taiz Military Axis, stated that the mobilization effort aims to reintegrate reserve personnel into military ranks while also retraining local anti-Houthi fighters and civilian volunteers.
Al-Bahr emphasized that the mobilization is in its early stages and its effects on the battlefield remain uncertain. Reporting from Taiz indicates continued fighting since early September, with no significant changes attributed to the mobilization efforts.
This trend of stagnant advancement is mirrored on other fronts, including the Kahboub Mountains bordering the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and in Lahj, situated south of Taiz. Yemeni government field commanders reported that the mobilization has yet to translate into reinforcements on the frontlines.
Nonetheless, military activity has increased. Colonel Majid al-Nazili, a spokesperson for the government’s military forces, noted that over 400 strikes were executed against Houthi positions within a 24-hour period, resulting in losses for the rebels.
Current conditions suggest that the Yemeni military’s ability to halt Houthi advances since the loss of the Red Sea coast may be attributed to a combination of advantageous defensive terrain in the Taiz mountains and Lahj, as well as heightened firepower. Weak coordination among anti-Houthi forces aided the Houthis’ initial coast advances. Although these forces operate under a unified command, divisions have hindered rapid responses to Houthi maneuvers.
In Taiz and Lahj, as well as in Marib in northern Yemen, anti-Houthi forces have demonstrated greater unity, drawing from years of experience resisting Houthi advances. These government-aligned forces have also taken time to bolster reinforcements in critical areas of conflict.
Additionally, the use of air power has escalated, with government forces reporting hundreds of air, drone, and artillery strikes targeting Houthi positions and reinforcements in recent days.
Having secured stretches of the Red Sea coast, the Houthis are now focused on controlling the mountainous terrain overlooking Bab al-Mandeb and crucial supply routes leading inland. Their attempts to seize this high ground have thus far been unsuccessful. Concurrently, the expansion of their territory has increased the logistical burdens of adequately defending these new positions.
The ongoing conflict increasingly centers on control of roads and supply lines, with neither side achieving the swift breakthroughs seen during the Houthi offensive on the Red Sea coast.
