A large-scale Houthi ground offensive launched on Thursday across Yemen’s western coast, southern Hodeidah, and western Taiz was faltering on Saturday as government forces counterattacked on several fronts, backed by intensified air strikes and efforts to cut the group’s supply lines.
In the most significant battlefield development on Saturday morning, national resistance forces, backed by units from the Giants Brigades, launched a counterattack south of al-Jarrahi district in Hodeidah province.
National resistance drones simultaneously struck Houthi reinforcements in the area, according to its military media office.
The operation came as government forces advanced from Hays towards al-Jarrahi in southeastern Hodeidah, seeking to regain the initiative on one of the fronts where the Houthis had carried out major attacks in recent days.
Military sources said the group had suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment during the fighting.
In southeastern Taiz, government forces made further gains on the Hayfan front and seized al-Wathra hill and Saeed Taha hill in the al-Mafalis area, as well as the Dheiban, al-Khudaira and al-Najdain hills, according to a military source.
The recaptured positions are militarily significant because they overlook al-Khazja market and Houthi supply routes towards fronts in northwestern Lahj and southern Taiz, the source said. The source added that the group had suffered losses in personnel and equipment and that some of its fighters had fled their positions.
Counteroffensive
In western Taiz, government forces recaptured al-Khazan hill in Jabal Habashi district on Friday after fierce clashes with the Houthis, as fighting intensified on the Maqbanah and al-Kadaha fronts and government reinforcements arrived.
The rapidly unfolding developments on these fronts indicate that the initiative is gradually shifting from the Houthis to government forces after three days of fighting in which the group sought to break through in southern Hodeidah and western Taiz, particularly in Jabal Habashi.
On the Saqam front, the national resistance’s military media office said on Saturday that Second Division forces were inflicting heavy losses on the Houthis in the al-Muharraq mountains.
The national resistance’s naval forces said they destroyed two Houthi explosive-laden boats that had attempted to target the al-Fajra area south of al-Khokha and the port of Mokha.
Military sources also said a Houthi infiltration attempt from the eastern entrance to Taiz city had been thwarted and several members of the group killed, while fighting continued in various sectors of the front.
At the same time, Houthi shelling struck the Hayjat al-Abd road linking Taiz and Aden, killing four civilians and wounding nine others, according to local and medical sources. The attack also caused property damage at the site.
The incidents reflect the widening scope of the Houthi escalation to include roads and civilian areas alongside the group’s ground operations on the front lines.
Air strikes enter the battle
For the first time, the Yemeni army said it had used combat aircraft to strike Houthi positions on the Taiz and Hodeidah fronts, marking a notable development in the course of the current fighting.
The armed forces’ media center said on Friday evening that combat aircraft had carried out more than 15 strikes on Houthi positions, gatherings and vehicles on the western coast fronts in Taiz and Hodeidah provinces, as artillery fire and ground clashes continued.
Military sources said Yemeni aircraft continued to strike Houthi positions in Taiz and Hodeidah, targeting supply lines and weapons depots. Houthi positions in the city of al-Hazm in al-Jawf province were also hit by air strikes, according to military sources.
Field sources said the Houthis had suffered heavy losses during three days of fighting, with hundreds of the group’s fighters killed or wounded. Hospitals under Houthi control in Hodeidah were facing mounting pressure as casualties arrived from the battlefronts, they said.
The group transferred another group of fighters killed or wounded in the clashes to hospitals in al-Jarrahi and Zabid, according to local media sources, indicating the scale of its losses during the offensive and subsequent efforts to repel the counterattacks.
The Houthis, meanwhile, continued to send reinforcements to the battle zones to hold positions they had initially advanced to and contain the government forces’ counteroffensive.
Protecting Bab al-Mandab
As the fighting widened, Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, and other council members monitored developments in the military operations and contacted military and field commanders to review the course of the battles, readiness levels, and operational and logistical needs, according to a statement from the office of the supreme commander of the armed forces.
Al-Alimi warned on Friday evening of the consequences of the Houthi escalation, holding the group responsible for the resulting humanitarian impact, including the displacement of hundreds of families from areas affected by the fighting.
He said government forces would not allow what he described as Iran’s objective of controlling the Bab al-Mandab Strait to be achieved, adding that any advance towards those areas would severely drain the Houthis.
The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation called on international organizations and donors to intervene urgently to help displaced and affected families in Taiz and Hodeidah.
It warned of growing needs for shelter, food, medicine, water and medical services, and called for field hospitals to be established to receive the wounded.
Mokha and its port were hit by a series of Houthi ballistic missile and drone attacks last August, in an escalation that struck civilian facilities and sites, disrupted port traffic, and put its facilities out of service.
Government forces responded with military operations and strikes targeting the group’s movements and offensive capabilities.
