Yemen's Houthis launch first major offensive in four years

Yemen's Houthis have launched their first large-scale offensive since 2022 following a breakdown in a ceasefire with the government earlier in July.

The offensive, launched on Thursday, saw Houthi forces fire heavy artillery, ballistic missiles, and carry out drone strikes in an attempt to gain ground along the Red Sea in Taiz province.

Around 129 people have been killed, according to an AFP tally, including 66 government soldiers, 62 Houthi militants, and one civilian, though Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that dozens of civilians had been killed and wounded in a Houthi ballistic missile strike on a restaurant in the city of Mokha.

The city of Mokha is reported to be a key objective for the Houthi offensive, a key port controlled by the government on the Red Sea, with the Houthis assaulting positions on the Taiz-Mokha road to reach the city.

Fighting has also been raging in the hills around the city of Taiz, with government forces launching counterattacks to retake several key areas in the neighbouring Jabal Habashi district that had fallen after Houthi assaults.

Government attacks were also launched in the al-Ma'afer district and the Maqbanah district.

In response to the Houthi offensive, the government has sent reinforcements to the region, including the pro-Government National Shield Forces and Giant's Brigades.

Mohammad al-Basha of the US-based risk advisory Basha Report told AFP that the Houthis wanted to extend their control over the Bab al-Mandab.

"The Houthis feel that if they capture Bab al-Mandab or Mokha port, they will be in a better position to negotiate with the government and the Saudis."

This was echoed by Ibrahim Jalal, Lead Researcher at the Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends, who said on X that "a sustained advance here would fracture the [government's] Taiz-Coast defensive network, isolate Al-Mokha and Al-Khokha from reinforcement and resupply, and create a landward approach form which the Houthis could place the southern Res Sea coast and ultimately the Bab al-Mandab axis under greater military pressure, including red sea shipping".

"Clearly, the immediate Yemeni Armed Forces priority is to restore the pre-attack line, secure the Taiz–coast corridor and deny the Houthis any durable foothold from which to sustain pressure toward Al-Mokha and the southern Red Sea," he added.

Yemen's civil war unravelled earlier in July after Saudi airstrikes targeted Sanaa airport in a bid to stop a flight from Iran carrying Houthi delegates and suspected Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members from landing in the Houthi-controlled territory.

The Houthis responded by announcing a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have attacked shipping in the Red Sea.

Yemen has been in a state of civil war since 2014, when a Houthi offensive ousted the Yemeni government from the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led intervention in 2015.

The country remains one of the worst humanitarian crisis points in the world, relying heavily on outside humanitarian aid.