During the past hours, the fronts of the Yemeni Taiz Governorate witnessed a fierce wave of fighting, the most violent in years, with the Houthi group allied with Iran launching simultaneous attacks on several axes, and opening a new front on the part of the Sami District, at a time when government forces intensified their ground and air strikes and targeted Houthi reinforcements, vehicles, and sites in Taiz, Lahj, Shabwa, and other governorates.
The expansion of the confrontations coincided with the announcement by government forces of carrying out 468 targeting operations against Houthi members and equipment on the eastern and Al-Bayda fronts and the Mansoura area in Al-Waziyah, west of Taiz, which they said resulted in the killing and wounding of hundreds and the destruction of military equipment and machinery.
Field developments indicate that the fighting in Taiz has moved to a more widespread pattern, after the Houthis tried to put pressure on the positions of government forces in more than one direction, from the northern front of the city and its east, to the axes of Jabal Habashi, Maqbanah, Al-Aqroud and Sami, coinciding with the continuation of confrontations on the western and southwestern fronts.
The media center of the Taiz Military Axis said that the government forces fought violent battles in Bani Bakari in the Jabal Habashi District, Himyar in the Maqbanah District, and Al-Aqroud in the southeast of the governorate, confirming that the Houthis suffered losses in lives and equipment.
On the northern front, field sources reported that government forces responded to a massive Houthi attack in the Arba’in area, in conjunction with thwarting infiltration attempts in Al-Karifat, Aqaba Munif, and Al-Tashrifat, east of the city of Taiz.
The confrontations extended to the Al Shaqab front in the Sabr Al Mawadim District, while intense mutual artillery shelling continued on the city's eastern front.
In a remarkable development, the Sami Front entered the line of intense confrontations, amid local reports of the retreat of Houthi elements after being subjected to ground strikes, and the killing and wounding of dozens of its members, in addition to government forces seizing some military equipment.
Populated areas were also subjected to Houthi bombardment, as local sources said that the group fired 23 mortar shells at villages in the Al-Dhabab area, west of Taiz, amid a state of fear among the population.
On the other hand, the media center of the Taiz axis said that the drones targeted Houthi positions on the Al-Kadha front, destroying a 120 mm cannon and burning an ammunition store, while the forces bombed the group’s sites and gatherings in Jabal Ghurab, Tabet Yassin, Al-Ashrouh, Asifra, and Al-Salou.
Massive air strikes
The battles coincided with the intensification of air strikes on Houthi positions in Taiz and other areas. The sources reported that warplanes carried out raids on Houthi sites and vehicles on the Al-Akbush, Al-Ahkoum, and Haifan fronts, southeast of Taiz, in conjunction with strikes that targeted the group's sites in Al-Waziyah, west of the governorate.
The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Colonel Majid Al-Nuzaili, said that the government forces carried out precise targeting operations that targeted Houthi reinforcements, weapons and equipment, including three artillery batteries on the Al-Waziyah front, and a mobile air defense system that he said was developed by Iranian experts in Al-Mokha, in addition to targeting Houthi leaders and members in Al-Mansoura and the Bab Al-Mandab region.
Al-Nuzaili also announced earlier the implementation of 468 targeting operations on three fronts, including Al-Wazi’iyah, and said that the operations resulted in the killing and wounding of hundreds of Houthi members and the destruction of their equipment and vehicles.
These strikes come as part of a broader military escalation that extended to the governorates of Saada, Amran, Marib, Hodeidah, and Taiz, with reports of targeting fixed and mobile sites, weapons stores, batteries, communications networks, and Houthi reinforcements.
Extended fronts
The confrontations were not limited to Taiz, as the western border of Lahj Governorate with Taiz witnessed clashes in the Al-Aghubrah area located on the outskirts of the Al-Mudaraba and Al-Ara District, coinciding with the military forces and tribes announcing the recovery of parts of the Mansoura region.
In Shabwa, the “Shabwa Defense Forces” announced the thwarting of Houthi attack attempts and infiltration operations on four fronts: Harib, Ain, Bayhan and Markha Al-Ula, and said that the Houthis suffered losses and were forced to retreat, in conjunction with strikes carried out by drones against the group’s positions and movements.
The simultaneity of these operations reflects the expansion of the scope of the confrontation outside the immediate Taiz axes, at a time when government forces continue to attempt to stabilize their defensive lines and prevent the Houthis from achieving new breakthroughs on the fronts connected to the western coast and the entrances to Taiz and Lahj.
In parallel with the military developments, the Yemeni government began translating the directives of the Chairman of the Presidential Command Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, regarding general mobilization and public mobilization into practical arrangements.
In Aden, the Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Taher Al-Uqaili, held a military meeting to discuss the required procedures and raise the level of readiness and coordination between the concerned parties, stressing that confronting the Houthis, according to the government’s position, requires the integration of the military institution with the various institutions of the state and society.
Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Ahmed Al-Basr, also held a meeting with the committees formed by the Minister of Defense, to discuss mechanisms for implementing general mobilization directives and defining tasks and responsibilities, including mobilizing human and material resources and enhancing coordination between various parties.
The circle of forced displacement has expanded in Yemen with the continued Houthi military escalation on various fronts and the deterioration of security conditions, which has prompted thousands of families to leave their homes in search of safer areas, amid growing humanitarian needs and limited ability to respond.
According to the updated unified humanitarian report issued by the Government Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons’ Camps, the number of officially registered displaced persons increased as of September 29 to 29,519 families, including 197,906 individuals, hailing from ten governorates included in the field monitoring.
Data indicate that displaced families not only face the loss of their homes, but also lose their sources of income, property, and livelihoods, while some families arrive in displacement areas lacking basic needs.
Field tracking results showed that Taiz Governorate hosts the largest number of displaced people, as the number of registered families there reached 13,925 families, including 97,529 individuals, distributed among 15 districts. Field teams are still following the movement of families who were recently displaced, and monitoring their movement paths and changing needs.
Lahj comes in second place, hosting 7,179 families including 50,253 individuals distributed over nine districts, the majority of whom came from the conflict areas in Taiz and Hodeidah.
In the temporary capital, Aden, the number of registered displaced families reached 3,741 families, including 17,782 individuals, distributed among the eight directorates of the governorate.
As for Abyan, 2,097 families, including 14,679 individuals, were registered, most of them in camps and gatherings in the Khanfar and Zanzibar districts.
In Hodeidah, available data indicate that there are 1,471 families, including 10,297 individuals, in the districts of Hays and Al Khawkha. Field teams are monitoring indicators of a recent secondary displacement of some of these families towards Aden, amid a need to assess their conditions and the needs imposed by their new relocation.
The rest of the registered families are distributed among other governorates, including Ma’rib with 412 families, Al-Dhalea’ with 240 families, Hadramaut with 214 families, Al-Mahra with 124 families, and Shabwa with 116 families.
The unit responsible for managing displaced camps confirmed that the Hodeidah Governorate data remained at the last available update on September 8, while the rest of the numbers reflect field updates extending until the 28th of the same month.
Many needs
According to the Yemeni government unit, the recent waves of displacement came in many cases suddenly and under harsh conditions, forcing families to leave their homes, property, and sources of income within a short time.
She added that the danger does not end for these families once they reach a safer area, as another journey of needs related to providing shelter, food, clean water, sanitation services, health care and protection begins.
The influx of displaced people increases the pressures already placed on host communities, which in turn face many economic and service challenges, which widens the gap between the size of the needs and the resources available to respond to them.
There is a particular need to protect groups most at risk, especially children, women, the elderly and people with disabilities, in addition to providing primary health care, water, environmental sanitation and waste management services.
Urgent response
In the face of the expanding displacement movement, the teams of the Camp Management Unit and its operations rooms continue to register displaced families, verify their data, and update information bases, in addition to referring the most needy cases to humanitarian partners.
The government unit renewed its call on local authorities, United Nations agencies, international and local organizations, and donors to urgently mobilize resources and activate rapid response mechanisms, without waiting for all detailed assessments to be completed.
She believed that life-saving assistance should proceed in parallel with field surveys and assessments, with priority given to families who were recently displaced and have not yet received any assistance.
As the displacement movement continues, the need for more effective coordination between humanitarian agencies appears urgent, not only to speed up the arrival of aid, but also to ensure that families are not left outside the scope of the response or that aid is duplicated in areas at the expense of others.
Displacement figures reveal the expansion of humanitarian needs associated with the confrontations, at a time when families who have lost their homes and sources of livelihood find themselves facing a new journey of searching for shelter, food, and basic services.
Yemeni government warnings against recruiting children in areas controlled by the Houthi group coincided with accusations of the group expanding its military and security activities beyond the Yemeni borders, reaching the Horn of Africa and threatening navigation and civil aviation in the southern Red Sea, in an image that the government says reflects the widening scope of risks associated with the group and its supporters.
In the latest of these warnings, the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights called on families in areas under the control of the Houthis to protect their children from being lured, recruited, and thrown into the fighting fronts. It said that it documented the killing of at least 100 children recruited by the group during the confrontations that took place last September.
The Ministry said, in a statement, that the number was based on verified names, information, and photos, and that it represents the cases that it was able to document, while the available data, according to its account, indicates that the actual numbers may be higher.
She explained that, according to what she documented, recruitment operations included cases of kidnapping and luring children in several governorates, before transporting them to mobilization camps and throwing them on the battle fronts. It warned against using what the group calls “cultural courses,” “summer centers,” and “general mobilization programs” in recruitment operations, in addition to exploiting the economic and living conditions of families.
The Ministry called on parents not to hand over their children to any parties or individuals working to attract them or keep them away from their families and schools. It also called on sheikhs, notables, educators and social figures in Houthi-controlled areas to refuse to recruit children and work to return those who were recruited to their families and educational institutions.
The Ministry held the Houthi leaders and those responsible for recruiting, mobilizing, training, and throwing children into hostilities legally responsible for their safety, considering that the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts are grave violations that require accountability.
It also called on the United Nations and international organizations concerned with child protection to intensify monitoring and documentation, put pressure to stop recruitment operations, and work to release recruited children and support programs for their rehabilitation and integration into society.
A network that extends beyond Yemen
In the context of the Yemeni government's warnings, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs, Afrah Al-Zouba, called on the international community to deal with what she described as the emergence of an axis led by the Iranian-backed Houthi group that extends on both banks of the Red Sea all the way to the Horn of Africa, as an interconnected network.
Afrah Al-Zouba said, in official statements, that the reports of the United Nations Group of Experts on Yemen documented cooperation between the Houthis and the Al-Shabaab movement in Somalia that goes beyond weapons smuggling, to include, according to what she reported, the transfer of expertise, operational coordination, and sending the group’s engineers to Somalia for training in modifying drones, in addition to training fighters from the movement in Houthi camps.
She added that this cooperation, in her estimation, reflects an effort to expand regional influence, noting that the Bab al-Mandab threat imposes an additional cost on global trade, through changing shipping routes and increasing transportation and insurance costs.
The minister also referred to the interception of communications by Somali intelligence between the Houthis, Al-Shabaab and ISIS, and to the cooperation of elements of Al-Qaeda with the group’s intelligence. She said that sectarian and ideological differences did not prevent these parties from cooperating to achieve common goals.
It identified four priorities for international action, including dealing with these networks within legal frameworks and sanctions lists, enhancing the exchange of intelligence information regarding their activities in Yemen and the Horn of Africa, supporting government forces facing the Houthis, in addition to ending dealing with the Yemeni government and the armed group on an equal footing.
A new danger in the air
In parallel with the warning of maritime and regional risks, the Yemeni government escalated its warning of a threat that it says targets the safety of international civil aviation over the southern Red Sea.
In a letter to the President of the Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Permanent Representative of Yemen to the International Organization said that it had documented the Houthis’ use of Iranian-origin air defense weapons that were launched from the group’s areas of control in Hodeidah Governorate towards international air routes.
According to the letter, these weapons were modified inside Yemen with the participation of experts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and were transformed into missiles that can remain in the air for up to 25 minutes, while using thermal tracking systems.
The government said that launching these weapons near international air routes represents, in its assessment, a direct threat to civilian aircraft and their passengers, including United Nations and humanitarian flights operating in Yemen and the region.
The letter linked this development to previous attacks on commercial ships and the threat to navigation in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and Bab al-Mandab, considering that the group is developing its capabilities to expand the scope of the threat from the maritime domain to the airspace.
The Yemeni government called on the member states of the United Nations to fully implement the arms embargo imposed on the Houthis under Security Council resolutions, most notably Resolution 2216 of 2015, and to strengthen cooperation with the Yemeni government to prevent the transfer of weapons, components, technology and military expertise to the group.
The Yemeni government also requested urgent action in coordination with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and international aviation bodies to assess the risks facing aircraft and air routes over the southern Red Sea and take the necessary measures to protect civil aviation.
It expressed its readiness to provide the Group of Experts on Yemen and the relevant international authorities with the available technical evidence and information, including data on launch sites and projectile trajectories, demanding that they be examined to determine the nature of the weapons, their origin, their mechanism of operation, and the networks involved in their transfer and development.
