Yemen’s government forces have conducted multiple air and ground operations in the southwestern governorate of Taiz in ۲۴ hours as they intensify attacks against the Iran-backed Houthi group.
The government’s military media centre on Sunday claimed a number of operations against the rebels, including air strikes on Houthi positions in five locations across the governorate.
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More than ۱۴۶,۰۰۰ people have been displaced since the fighting erupted in July after a period of relative calm since a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in ۲۰۲۲.
In recent weeks, the Houthis have made dramatic territorial gains against the government forces, seizing the strategic Red Sea coastal city of Mocha and expanding their control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a global maritime chokepoint connecting Europe to Asia.
Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council, has called on citizens to mobilise and join the fight against the Houthis as the government has stepped up its attacks against the Iran-backed group in an effort to stop their advance and regain lost territory.
Ibrahim al-Huri, from the University of Saba in Marib governorate, said that the Yemeni government’s call for a general “mobilisation” of the population will likely receive more support in the government-controlled areas, especially in Taiz and Marib, where people have been suffering more.
“Even in the Houthi-controlled areas, there would be many people who would like to answer the call for mobilisation, but there will be some obstacles and challenges like the fear of retaliation and facing the brutality [of the militia].”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, which has faced Houthi attacks on its soil since fighting escalated further this month, has been turning to its allies, including Pakistan and Turkiye, for support.
Saudi Arabia backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
Here’s what we know about the latest fighting and the humanitarian conditions the impoverished country faces:
What to know about the latest fighting
According to the military media centre on Sunday, dozens of Houthi fighters, including field commanders, were killed or wounded in the previous ۲۴ hours of fighting near Taiz’s capital, which is also named Taiz.
Government forces have carried out operations in several areas of the governorate, including the al-Waziiya district in the west, weapons sites and ammunition depots at Mafraq Mawiya and al-Dhukrah in the east, a Houthi gathering in the Hayfan district in the south and against military vehicles in the Gurab area in the northwest.
Government forces also thwarted infiltration attempts on the al-Ahtoub front and in Hadran as they carried out shelling of Houthi gatherings on the al-Kadha and al-Aqroud fronts, the media centre said.
It added that several Houthi military vehicles were damaged in the attacks.
Al Jazeera could not verify the battlefield claims.
“Government forces say they have made advances in the southern Taiz governorate, taking control of several areas and higher ground. Among them is Jabal Bazel, a mountaintop that places Houthi supply lines within target range,” Al Jazeera’s Maha Ali said on Saturday, reporting from Taiz.
“These developments point to significant and potentially decisive ground operations in recent hours.”
Ali said al-Alimi expressed confidence that government forces were capable of restoring control over the whole country. Houthis currently control vast swaths of northern and western Yemen while the government controls the south and east.
Since the current fighting erupted, the Houthis have accused the Saudis of carrying out attacks in Yemen and promised to prevent Saudi tankers from passing through Bab al-Mandeb, which Riyadh has been using as an alternative shipping route to the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran in effect has closed the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel began a war on it in February. Before the conflict, a fifth of the world’s oil supplies had passed through that waterway.
Government forces, meanwhile, accused the Houthis of using Iranian air defence weapons and said they pose a danger to aircraft.
“These Houthi weapons pose a serious threat to international flight paths over the Red Sea and operate using a heat-tracking system,” Brigadier General Majed al-Nazili, the official spokesperson for the Yemeni government forces, said on social media.
“The weapons employed are capable of attacking military or civilian targets without the ability to distinguish between them, thereby endangering the safety of civil aviation and the lives of passengers.”
Early on Saturday, a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh and Khamis Mushait in Saudi Arabia.
What has been the regional response to the conflict?
On Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, addressed the UN General Assembly and called on the international community to condemn Houthi actions against the kingdom and in Yemen.
At the same forum, Yemeni Vice President Abdullah Abdulkader al-Alimi-Bawzer warned that the Houthis were using shipping security “as a tool for blackmail”.
“It is taking hostage the entire global economy,” he said.
The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jassim Mohammed al-Budaiwi, on Saturday strongly condemned the recent Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia.
“This dangerous escalation constitutes a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s sovereignty and poses a direct threat to the security and safety of civilians and the stability of the region,” al-Budaiwi said in a statement.
Iran has denied it has any role in the Yemen conflict. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera that the actions of the Houthis were not connected to Iran and Tehran stands in solidarity with “everyone subjected to injustice”.
He urged the Houthis and Saudi Arabia to resolve their differences through dialogue, saying “a brother should not fight his brother,” and offered Iran’s help in ending the dispute. “We will not be warmongers,” he said.
On Friday, Iran delivered a ceasefire offer, which US President Donald Trump has rejected. It included Yemen and Lebanon. Tehran offered to open the Strait of Hormuz if the US fulfils its conditions, which include the lifting of Washington’s naval blockade on Iranian ports, a sanctions waiver and the release of Iran’s frozen assets.
Could Saudi allies join the conflict?
Saudi Arabia’s allies have rallied behind it amid intense fighting between the Yemeni government forces and Houthis.
Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman said on Saturday that there would be continued joint efforts with Pakistan to confront attacks against the kingdom in accordance with the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed last month.
He held talks with Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir on Thursday. A day earlier, the military chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye jointly reviewed threats facing Saudi Arabia at a meeting in the Saudi capital.
Multiple Saudi cities, including Riyadh, have been hit by drones and missiles attributed to the Houthis.
Meanwhile, France confirmed on Friday that it was sending troops to guard the major oil terminal at Yanbu, a Saudi port city on the Red Sea, but added that it was not joining the conflict. Yanbu has major oil storage and refining facilities and is connected by the East-West Pipeline, which can carry up to seven million barrels a day. The pipeline was damaged in a drone attack carried out from a group based in Iraq.
The US has so far not pledged military involvement, but the Saudi foreign minister said the kingdom was “continuing to work with our partners in the US”. On September ۱۴, the commander of the US military’s Central Command, Brad Cooper, met the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Jeddah in the wake of the Houthis’ seizure of Mocha.
What’s the state of humanitarian conditions?
At least ۱۴۶,۰۰۰ people have been displaced in the Arab region’s most impoverished country over the past three weeks, most of whom were uprooted from or within Taiz governorate, according to Yemen’s UNICEF country representative, Akhil Iyer.
More than ۳,۰۰۰ people fled across the Red Sea to Djibouti over several days earlier this month, Djibouti state media have reported, with the UN warning that number could rise.
The number of casualties is still not confirmed as the rival sides have made conflicting claims. As per media reports, the death toll runs into the hundreds.
UNICEF has verified that at least ۱۵ children have been killed and ۱۴ injured in the conflict since early September while three have been reported missing.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than ۲۲ million people in Yemen require humanitarian assistance and protection services; ۱۸.۳ million people face acute food insecurity; and more than ۲.۲ million children under five are acutely malnourished.
Al-Huri, from the University of Saba, said millions of Yemenis have been suffering from war and “it’s high time for it to come to an end”.
“According to reports by UN organisations, more than five million Yemenis have left their homes for different places across Yemen, and those people are eager to return home. Their families want to live safely and with dignity,” he told Al Jazeera.
