The latest:
Saudi Arabia is weighing a ground offensive against the Houthis in the coming weeks, with Yemeni forces it oversees leading the fighting under cover of Saudi airstrikes, six people familiar with the preparations told Reuters. The stated aim is to reverse the Houthi advance that handed the group the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab strait last month.
Details:
- The two options: Gulf and Yemeni officials told Reuters the Saudis are studying either a limited operation around Bab al-Mandab or a wider campaign of simultaneous assaults in al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and al-Jawf provinces. More than 100,000 troops could be mobilized depending on the scale chosen.
- Allied roles: The sources said Saudi allies are not expected to take a direct combat role. The United States is already supplying intelligence for Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, while some regional and European states provide the kingdom with mainly defensive military assistance.
- Taiz front: Government forces reported some of the heaviest fighting in years around Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city. Colonel Abdel Basset al-Baher, a Yemeni army officer, said the Houthis attacked dozens of fronts Thursday, that most assaults were repelled, and that the group seized three rural villages before ground fighting eased Friday.
- Casualty figures: Sources on both sides told AFP that 80 people were killed in Taiz over 24 hours, with Houthi military sources counting 55 of their own fighters dead and government sources reporting 26 soldiers killed. The WHO says more than 800 people have been killed since the fighting resumed.
- Competing claims: Yemeni armed forces spokesman Majed al-Nuzaili said government forces carried out 474 strikes in 24 hours from Harad to Marib and Taiz, killing or wounding 1,540 Houthi fighters and destroying 216 vehicles and military assets. The Houthis issued no immediate response to the tally.
- Airstrikes on Sanaa: Houthi-run Al-Masirah said airstrikes hit Sanaa and at least three provinces including Taiz, blaming what it called Saudi aggression. A pro-government forces spokesman said they struck “high-value targets” in Sanaa but gave no further detail. Saudi officials have largely not acknowledged the hundreds of strikes attributed to them.
- Cross-border attacks: The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted ballistic missiles and drones headed for Khamis Mushait and Jazan on Thursday, and another missile early Friday. It also accused the Houthis of a drone strike on a power station in Medina feeding the Prophet’s Mosque, destroying one transformer. The Houthis denied that and an earlier Mecca accusation.
- Humanitarian toll: The World Food Programme said Friday that more than 150,000 people have been displaced in recent weeks, and that in monitored government-held areas roughly three-quarters of households could not meet basic food needs, the highest level recorded this year.
- UN warning: Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, said Thursday that fighting in Taiz had intensified markedly and called on the Houthis to halt their offensive, citing reports of casualties, infrastructure damage and road closures trapping residents.
Background:
Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015 leading an Arab coalition after the Houthis expelled the internationally recognized government from Sanaa. A 2022 truce largely held until July, when the Houthis accused Riyadh of bombing Sanaa airport to block an Iranian plane.
Between the lines:
Taiz sits at the junction between the Houthi-held north, the government-held south and the Red Sea coast, so widening control there would lock in the group’s coastal gains and squeeze government forces. With Iran restricting navigation through Hormuz, Riyadh has leaned harder on Red Sea export routes — which places an Iran-aligned force beside the kingdom’s remaining energy artery.
What’s next
Watch whether Riyadh opts for the limited Bab al-Mandab operation or the multi-front version, the scale of mobilization, Houthi claims of responsibility for strikes on southern Saudi cities, and Grundberg’s next move.
