Yemen’s government forces have announced they captured Houthi-held positions in the southern governorate of Lahj, as heavy fighting with Houthi rebels spread across several fronts in the country.
The government’s National Shield Forces said on Monday that they had taken control of positions on the al-Muhawala front in western Lahj after a large assault on Houthi lines. The forces claimed that dozens of Houthi fighters had been killed or wounded in the operation.
Government advances in Lahj and al-Jawf
The Lahj announcement follows several days of reported progress by government troops in the northern governorate of al-Jawf, east of the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa. According to the government, its forces have moved forward in recent days through mountain ranges east of the provincial capital, al-Hazm.
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Suhaib al-Miyahi, a reporter for Arabic, visited the al-Jawf front line on November 6. He documented trenches and fortifications in positions that government commanders said had been seized from the Houthis, while fighting continued nearby.
The Houthis are still pressing their attacks in Taiz, where they have surrounded the city and have kept it under siege for more than a month. Government forces say they repelled Houthi assaults on several fronts on the outskirts of the city in the previous day.
Operation Dawn of Yemen and the wider war
In his daily update, government military spokesperson Majed al-Nuzaili said on Monday that government forces had carried out almost 1,000 attacks in the previous hours. He said these had left more than 120 Houthi fighters dead or wounded. The claims could not be independently verified.
The recent clashes are part of Operation Dawn of Yemen, which began on October 5. The operation was launched to reverse Houthi gains along the Red Sea coast the previous month and, ultimately, to defeat the Iranian-backed group.
Saudi-backed government forces have not yet made significant gains, and the fighting has become what observers describe as a war of attrition. It is the latest phase of a conflict that has lasted more than a decade, beginning after the Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014.
Analysts weigh Houthi losses and the toll on Taiz
Tawfik al-Hamidi, a political analyst and president of the SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, told that the government is achieving some success in wearing down Houthi manpower. He linked this partly to the support it receives from Saudi air strikes.
“I believe that what is happening reflects a real depletion of the Houthis’ capabilities, and not just a tactical retreat,” al-Hamidi said.
He also claimed that the frequency of Houthi attacks had fallen. The group, he said, still has military capacity, but its ability to mount wide-scale attacks and hold ground is coming under growing pressure.
Al-Hamidi stressed the strategic weight of al-Jawf because of its closeness to Sanaa. He argued that further government gains there could push the Houthis to move their forces around. He also said Taiz could benefit most from these developments, since they create a real chance to ease the siege and eventually lift it.
The fighting has carried a heavy humanitarian cost in Taiz. According to reports published on Monday by the state-run Saba news agency, nine civilians, including two children, were wounded on Sunday in shelling and gunfire in several areas of the city.
In a separate incident on Sunday, an ambulance came under fire in the al-Awat area. Saba, citing local and medical sources, said the attack killed a wounded patient and his father and injured a paramedic. The Joint Medical Emergency Committee in Taiz also said preliminary reports indicated that another ambulance had been targeted in the al-Shaqab area.
Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia
The Houthis have continued to fire ballistic missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia, including attacks aimed at oil facilities. The Saudi-led coalition said on Sunday that it had intercepted one drone and five missiles launched towards Riyadh and the kingdom’s eastern and southern regions.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Monday that Saudi forces had carried out more than 100 air strikes over the preceding 24 hours. He said the strikes targeted Marib, Sanaa, Hodeidah, Taiz, Lahj and al-Jawf. Saree alleged that the attacks caused civilian casualties but did not say how many people were affected.
Al-Hamidi argued that the Houthis are using cross-border attacks to raise the security and economic costs of the Saudi intervention. In his view, the aim is to pressure Riyadh into halting the government offensive.
“The group realises that the continued advance of the government forces may weaken its military position, and therefore it uses missiles to raise the security and economic cost on Riyadh,” he explained.
He warned, however, that the strategy could backfire. In his assessment, it could push Saudi Arabia to step up its military response rather than make concessions.
