Yemen's Government Launches Offensive as Houthis Cut Taiz's Main Supply Route
Presidential Leadership Council chief Rashad al-Alimi announced operations Sunday to retake territory. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced since early September.
Yemen's internationally recognized government announced a major offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday, one day after the group tightened its grip around the besieged city of Taiz by cutting its main supply route.
"I announce today the start of military operations to retake the remaining territories," said Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council. He called on the armed forces to liberate the country from "the Houthi terrorist militia."
The Houthis have effectively encircled Taiz city by taking control of the al-Safiya area, military sources told reporters. That gives them the main road linking Taiz to Aden, where key institutions of the government sit. Fighting is concentrated around Jabal Han, a mountain that overlooks Taiz from the west. Government forces have held it, while the Houthis have used what Al Jazeera described as intense artillery, tank, mortar and Katyusha rocket fire.
Earlier in the week the Houthis launched what officials called their largest and most coordinated offensive in the province in years, striking at 56 flashpoints. At least 30 Houthi fighters were reported killed in a 24-hour period, and Yemeni military officials said government troops captured several areas on Saturday, including a fort in Samaa. Al Jazeera said it could not verify those claims, and observers describe the front as a stalemate with no clear winner so far.
Taiz governorate is Yemen's most populous, with about 4.5 million people. It sits on the Red Sea, includes the port of Mocha and overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Because it links the Houthi-held north to the government-held south, losing it would risk isolating Aden.
The humanitarian toll is climbing. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced since fighting escalated in early September, most from Taiz. Road closures into the city are choking deliveries of food and medicine, and United Nations agencies have warned the health system could collapse. The port of Mocha, once a lifeline for supplies, is no longer available.
The battle is tied to the wider regional war. The Houthis seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline in September and have blockaded Saudi energy exports. Saudi Arabia has carried out most airstrikes against the group since its 2015 intervention, since Yemen's government has little air power, and recent strikes are believed to have been flown by Saudi warplanes. The renewed fighting reignited in July, months after the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on Feb. 28.
Senior U.S. officials discussed the Yemen front at Camp David on Friday alongside the Iran war.
For Taiz's residents, the immediate question is whether the government's offensive can reopen the supply roads before food and medicine run short.
