The Yemeni leadership is tending to deal with the loss of government forces on the west coast as a painful setback on the ground, but it should not turn into a turning point in the course of the confrontation with the Houthi group, at a time when the government and the Presidential Command Council are seeking to rearrange the forces and regain the initiative, in parallel with containing the humanitarian repercussions of displacement and ensuring that state institutions continue to perform their functions.
In the latest expression of this trend, Sultan Al-Arada, a member of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and Governor of Ma’rib, said that what happened on the coast is “painful and unfortunate,” but, according to his description, it falls within the nature of wars that witness hit and run, progress and retreat, stressing that the incident will not deviate the compass from the main goal. He added in statements reported by government media that the forces that withdrew from the coast were reorganizing their ranks, and that they would return to the battle “in one way or another.”
The recent field developments on the West Coast forced government forces to redeploy after losing sites and areas that represented part of their scope of deployment there, in light of a widespread escalation by the Houthis. The developments led to new waves of displacement, while numbers of military personnel moved to Marib, where Al-Arada said that the authorities prepared a camp for them and made arrangements to receive the displaced and secure their needs.
Al-Arada's statements reveal that the Yemeni leadership is trying to move dealing with the loss of the coast from the field of field shock to the path of reorganization and restoring the ability to fight. This is an approach that intersects with what Prime Minister Shaye’ al-Zindani put forward during the cabinet meeting in Aden, when he stressed that the difficult developments witnessed in recent days should not be understood as an end to the confrontation or a decisive decision on its course.
Al-Zindani said that battles are not measured by the result of a day or a change in location, but rather by the state’s ability to reorganize its efforts, mobilize its resources, support its forces, maintain the cohesion of its institutions, and regain the initiative.
It appears that the priority of the Yemeni leadership in the next stage is to rearrange the forces that withdrew from the coast and integrate them back into the course of operations, while raising the level of government support for the armed and security forces. The Council of Ministers confirmed that it listened to the Minister of Defense’s report on the military situation on various fronts, the level of readiness and operational needs, stressing the need to strengthen the forces’ ability to confront escalation and regain the initiative.
In Marib, Al-Arada confirmed that the governorate's forces are only thinking about victory and supporting the various fronts, indicating that the ultimate goal of the fronts, in Marib and elsewhere, remains the restoration of the capital, Sana'a. He linked this to what he described as popular will, stressing that the forces and leaders in the field bear a historical responsibility to defend the state and national dignity.
In another direction, the political leadership tried to send messages to the northern and western fronts to confirm that redeployment does not mean abandoning the confrontation. A member of the Presidential Command Council, Sheikh Othman Majli, visited the forces of the Fourth Emergency Division in Kataf al-Baqa’ in Saada Governorate, and was briefed on their readiness, deployment, and field missions, while the leaders there confirmed their continued readiness to confront the Houthis.
In Taiz, the governor's two undersecretaries for defense, security and development affairs stressed, during a visit to Sabr al-Mawadim, the necessity of raising the level of preparedness, mobilization and supplying the fronts, indicating that the local leadership seeks to maintain the cohesion of the internal front and not allow the recent developments on the coast to weaken popular support for the forces.
The attempt to overcome the loss is not limited to the military side, as the Yemeni government faces direct humanitarian repercussions as a result of waves of displacement from areas of confrontation. The Council of Ministers stressed that protecting civilians and displaced persons represents an urgent national and humanitarian responsibility, directing government agencies to inventory the needs and numbers of displaced people and provide shelter, food, water, health care, and basic needs.
Marib has a key position in this response, as Al-Arada said that those coming from the coast will find their environment and their people in the governorate, stressing that the people of Marib will stand by them as they are equal in rights and duties. The Council of Ministers also praised the efforts of the local authority in Aden in receiving displaced families and dealing with the repercussions of the escalation.
At the same time, the government seeks to prevent military developments from turning into broader unrest in areas under its control. Al-Zindani said that the government is managing the phase from the temporary capital, Aden, and is following developments, setting priorities, and making decisions in accordance with developments in the field, stressing that the escalation, despite its seriousness, will not turn into confusion in the work of the state or a vacuum that the Houthi group will exploit.
Politically, Al-Arada's statements represent a clearer declaration of the Yemeni leadership's transition from the priority of the peace path that it has adopted since 2022 to the priority of restoring the state, after it was considered that the Houthis had brought the peace path to a dead end and re-imposed the option of war.
He said that the Leadership Council and the government had made major concessions during the past years in an effort to end the war and stop the bloodshed, with the support of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, the United Nations and other countries, but the Houthis, according to his account, rejected the peace efforts and returned the country to the war square.
This approach coincides with a government assertion that the Houthi escalation goes beyond the Yemeni arena, and is linked, according to the government’s position, to an Iranian agenda that uses Yemen’s strategic location to threaten the security of the region and international navigation.
The Yemeni Cabinet also discussed the repercussions of the escalation on the western coast, Bab al-Mandab, and international trade movement, warning of the dangers of threatening ships and supply lines.
The Houthi group launched a massive ground military attack between September 3 and 11, using huge forces of ground forces in conjunction with drones and missiles on the fronts of the western Yemeni coast, which led to the group taking control of Hays, Al-Khokha, and Mokha, all the way to Bab Al-Mandab and the Yemeni islands in the southern Red Sea.
The military escalation by the Houthi group west of Taiz Governorate and south of Hodeidah led to a massive wave of displacement, including 9,746 families and 68,338 individuals in six Yemeni governorates, amid government warnings of worsening humanitarian needs and an acute shortage of shelter, water, food, and health services.
Government sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the current wave of displacement exceeds the capabilities of local authorities, at a time when low funding has led to limited interventions by local and international humanitarian organizations, stressing that the conditions the displaced are experiencing require rapid international action to avoid complications of the crisis.
The sources added that the continued military and retaliatory actions of the Houthis in the districts that the group entered, west of Taiz and south of Hodeidah, contributed to the increase in the number of those fleeing, noting that operations are continuing in the Taiz countryside towards the Jabal Habashi district, the Bani Omar district, and the areas close to it.
These developments caused an additional wave of displacement towards Al-Maafer District, Al-Turbah City, and other nearby rural areas, with continued fears of its expansion if confrontations continue in populated areas.
The sources warned that the Houthis' positioning in the highlands overlooking villages and farms exposes residents to danger as a result of the exchange of fire with government forces, in addition to fears of a repeat of the reprisals witnessed in other districts, which prompted large numbers of residents to leave their areas in search of safety.
The government unit responsible for managing the camps warned of the continuing waves of displacement, stressing that they double the humanitarian pressures on fleeing families and host communities, especially since many families were forced to leave their homes and sources of income without being able to secure their basic needs before leaving.
The unit confirmed that the continuation of military actions and clashes forced thousands of families to suddenly flee, leaving their homes, property, and means of livelihood, before reaching the hosting areas, and they lack the minimum necessities of life, most notably food, shelter, and safe water.
She pointed out that there is a serious gap in the humanitarian response, noting that no sectoral response was recorded for the 104 newly displaced families in Aden Governorate, with 57 of them living with host families in extremely difficult conditions.
The unit also recorded a severe shortage of tents, shelter materials, potable water, food and cash aid, and basic health services, warning that the continuation of this gap may lead to a further deterioration in living conditions, especially among the most vulnerable groups.
The unit launched an urgent distress call to local authorities, United Nations agencies, international organizations and donors, calling for the mobilization of resources and the intensification of humanitarian interventions to quickly reach displaced families and provide their basic and life-saving needs.
It also called for implementing an emergency response in parallel with conducting urgent field assessments, to ensure that aid is directed to the areas and families most in need, and to reduce the risk of worsening the humanitarian situation.
According to the unified report issued by the Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons’ Camps, the displacement of 9,746 families, including 68,338 individuals, was recorded in six governorates, as a result of the Houthi military escalation, bombing, clashes, and deteriorating security conditions, at a time when the needs of families who have urgently left their homes and sources of livelihood are increasing.
The displacement movement was distributed among the governorates of Taiz, Lahj, Hodeidah, Abyan, Aden, and Shabwa, with a large disparity in the numbers of incoming families between the governorates.
Taiz topped the list of hosting governorates, receiving 5,799 families, including 40,710 individuals, distributed among 12 districts, followed by Lahj, which received 2,132 families, including 14,923 individuals.
Hodeidah recorded the displacement of 1,471 families, including 10,297 individuals, while the number in Abyan reached 228 families, including 1,596 individuals, and in Aden, 104 families, including 728 individuals, while Shabwa recorded 12 families, including 84 individuals.
These numbers come in light of the continuation of military operations and the expansion of the movement of people fleeing areas of confrontation, which increases the pressure on local authorities, host communities and humanitarian partners, and makes the speed of intervention and mobilization of funding crucial factors to provide the minimum necessities of life for the displaced.
The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms documented 958 crimes and violations committed by the Houthi group during the period from September 3 to 11, in the districts of Hays and Al-Khawkhah in Hodeidah Governorate, and Al-Wazi’iyah, Mawza’, Al-Mukha and Dhubab in Taiz Governorate, coinciding with a massive wave of displacement that affected about 2,300 families from the West Coast regions.
The network said, in its report, that the violations included killing, injury, arrest, kidnapping, raids, looting, and confiscation of property, in addition to targeting civilian and humanitarian facilities, in light of the widespread military escalation witnessed in the areas controlled by the group.
According to the report, the network documented 177 direct killings of civilians, including women and children, including 38 cases of killing by Houthi snipers, and 42 cases of field liquidation that it said included wounded members of the armed forces, noting that some of them were liquidated in front of their families and children, while others were liquidated inside health facilities and hospitals.
It also documented 53 cases of liquidation, which it said included military prisoners, and 23 cases of killing as a result of random projectiles that targeted residential neighborhoods, in addition to 12 cases of killing by direct bullets and nine cases of killing as a result of being run over by crews belonging to the group.
The Human Rights Network monitored 212 cases of injury, including women and children, while it said that about 39 injured people are still missing, amid fears that they may be subjected to enforced disappearance after being kidnapped from medical facilities.
It also recorded 213 arrest and kidnapping crimes targeting civilians, in conjunction with raid campaigns and the establishment of barriers and checkpoints at the entrances and exits of cities and areas controlled by the group.
It reported that the raids, raids, and looting operations affected 356 facilities and homes, including 11 government facilities, while 37 homes were completely looted and 282 were partially looted, in addition to the looting of 30 civilian cars and 17 motorcycles.
The network warned of the danger of liquidating the wounded and prisoners, especially the cases that it said occurred in front of the victims’ families or inside health facilities, considering that this raises concerns about respecting the protection stipulated by international humanitarian law for the wounded and people hors de combat.
According to the report, the escalation, bombing, and targeting of residential areas led to the displacement of about 2,300 families, including 19,440 individuals. The network said that Al-Mokha District alone witnessed the displacement of 823 families, including 3,481 women and children.
The Yemeni Human Rights Network accused the Houthis of looting the contents of the Mokha port and its airport, including electronic devices, equipment, documents and various assets, noting that the information it received indicated that most of these movables were transferred to Sanaa.
She also said that she documented the looting of eight vehicles belonging to the United Nations Humanitarian Center in Mokha, considering that this led to the obstruction of humanitarian operations and affected the ability of United Nations partners to reach populations in need of assistance.
This outcome coincides with other human rights reports about victims of the escalation. The Taiz Human Rights Center said that it documented, in a preliminary toll, the killing of 139 people and the injury of about 180 others within 72 hours, explaining that the victims, according to the monitoring team’s statements, were killed by ballistic missiles and drones while trying to flee towards Aden.
The center indicated that the bombing caused, according to its estimates, the displacement of about 2,300 families, including approximately 19,440 individuals, warning that the toll would rise as monitoring and verification operations continued.
The center said that the violations that accompanied the Houthis' control of Hays and Al-Khawkhah, south of Hodeidah, and Al-Wazi'iyah, Mawza', Al-Mukha, and Dhubab, west of Taiz, included storming homes and looting their contents, in addition to targeting villages and residential neighborhoods with missiles, drones, and artillery shells.
He added that the violations included, according to what he reported, the forceful imposition of preachers with sectarian leanings on a number of mosques in the coastal districts.
The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms called on the international community, the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and human rights and humanitarian organizations to take action to protect civilians, ensure the arrival of aid, reveal the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared, and provide protection for the wounded and sick, medical facilities, and humanitarian workers.
It also called for independent and transparent investigations into the violations it documented and for those responsible to be held accountable, warning that continued impunity may encourage more violations and double the humanitarian cost of the conflict.
