After Red Sea losses, Yemen’s government forces hold the line

Air strikes and difficult terrain have so far prevented the Houthis from turning coastal gains into a wider breakthrough

Yemen’s Houthi rebels conducted intense attacks across frontlines in Taiz governorate on Thursday, as the Iran-allied group attempts to build on its lighting offensive that captured the country’s Red Sea coast last month.

Thus far, Yemeni government forces have been able to hold their positions on the frontlines and even claimed to have inflicted heavy losses against the Houthis.

Still, there are few signs that the Saudi-backed government intends to begin a serious counteroffensive against the Houthis in the near future, despite the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi calling for a general mobilisation against the rebels on September ۲۵.

The government instead seems to be pursuing a more gradual process, building up its military forces and attempting to make them more cohesive.

Abdul Basir al-Bahr, a senior official with the internationally recognised government army’s Taiz Military Axis, told Al Jazeera that the general mobilisation call was part of that effort.

Al-Bahr said plans include bringing reserve personnel back into the military’s ranks and retraining them, alongside local anti-Houthi fighters and civilian volunteers.

He stressed that the measures were at an early stage and their battlefield impact could not be judged yet.

In Taiz, Al Jazeera’s field monitoring has found that fighting has continued since early September without any major shifts that can be directly attributed to the general mobilisation.

The picture is similar on other fronts, including the Kahboub Mountains overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and in Lahj, south of Taiz.

Yemeni government field commanders told Al Jazeera the general mobilisation had not yet led to frontline reinforcements.

But that does not mean that military activity has not intensified. On Monday, Colonel Majid al-Nazili, spokesman for the government’s military forces, said the forces had carried out more than ۴۰۰ strikes over a ۲۴-hour period against the Houthis, causing losses in personnel and equipment.

Advances stall

The ability of the Yemeni government’s military to halt further Houthi advances since the Red Sea reversal appears to reflect a combination of more favourable defensive terrain in the Taiz mountains and Lahj, as well as increased firepower.

The loss of the coastline was aided by weak coordination among anti-Houthi forces, who – despite officially being under one military chain of command – appeared divided and unable to respond quickly to the Houthi advance.

In both Taiz and Lahj – as well as Marib in Yemen’s north – anti-Houthi forces have shown more unity and have years of experience preventing Houthi military advances. Government-aligned forces have also had time to reinforce areas where the Houthis are attempting to advance.

The use of air power is also growing, with government forces reporting hundreds of air, drone, artillery and other strikes targeting Houthi positions and reinforcements in the past few days.

After having seized stretches of the Red Sea coast, the Houthis now need control of the mountainous high ground overlooking Bab al-Mandeb and the roads leading inland to consolidate those gains. Their attempts to take that high ground have so far failed, while the expanded territory has increased the manpower and logistical burden of defending their new positions.

The result, so far, is increasingly a battle over roads and supply lines, with neither side so far able to reproduce the kind of rapid breakthrough seen on the Red Sea coast.