The ground escalation initiated by the Houthi group on the Yemeni western coast and Taiz entered its fourth day on Sunday, with government forces moving from containing the attack to pursuing the group’s members in southeastern Hodeidah, after completing the liberation of the Hays District, in conjunction with the continuation of battles in western Taiz, and attempts to regain the sites to which the Houthis advanced.
Field sources reported that the Yemeni armed forces captured dozens of Houthi members during the battles, the majority of whom were under the legal age, at a time when the forces continued to advance from northern Hays towards Al-Jarrahi District, while a re-evaluation of the military situation was taking place on the fronts west of Taiz. Especially the Al-Kadha area, where the Houthi advance is now threatening the main road linking the city of Taiz and the coastal city of Al-Mokha.
On Saturday, the government forces and the joint forces announced the completion of the liberation of the Hays District in Hodeidah Governorate, both the center and the countryside, after restoring the rural areas that had been under the control of the Houthis for years, despite the liberation of the center of the district in 2018.
The completion of the liberation of Hays came after a counterattack launched by government forces, represented by the “Joint Forces” and the “National Resistance,” “Giants,” “Tihama Resistance,” and “Homeland Shield” brigades, after the Houthis were able during the past days to attack advanced sites and control some of them.
After recovering those sites, the forces continued their attack inside the Hais countryside, and were able to liberate and secure the remaining areas, before advancing towards the Houthi positions in the Al-Jarrahi District, amid the retreat and flight of the group’s members and the deaths and injuries among its ranks, according to military sources.
The surgeon is in range of the forces
Progress towards surgical intervention represents an important development in the field. Controlling the district will open the way for government forces towards new areas, and cut the artery linking Ibb Governorate to the Tihama areas.
According to the sources, government forces are moving from their positions in Hays towards the Houthi positions in southeastern Hodeidah, while the group is trying to rearrange its ranks and stabilize its defenses in the face of the counterattack.
On Thursday morning, the Houthis launched a massive and simultaneous attack on a number of fronts on the coast and west of Taiz, taking advantage of the limited forces in some locations, and were able to control sites including Qahban, Jabal al-Sheikh Saeed, Jabal Numan, and other locations.
The ground advance was preceded by intense bombardment with artillery, mortars, and missiles, in addition to the use of drones and medium and light weapons, while the attack appeared to be an attempt to put pressure on more than one axis at the same time.
On the other hand, government forces began redeploying, coinciding with the arrival of army reinforcements from the coast and Aden, and the gathering of fighters from the areas in western Taiz, before they were able to regain a number of the sites they lost at the beginning of the attack, while continuing their efforts to regain the rest of the sites.
Threatening the Mocha Road
In western Taiz, confrontations are still continuing on the Jabal Habashi front. Especially in the Al-Kadha area; The Houthis were able to achieve a field breakthrough during the attack, which now threatens the main road between the city of Taiz and the coastal city of Mokha.
Government forces are working to re-evaluate the situation on this front, in preparation for pursuing the Houthis and regaining the positions they controlled, in conjunction with attempts to stabilize defense lines and prevent the group from expanding the scope of its advance.
The Houthi attack included the fronts of Maqbanah, Al-Tawir, Al-Ahtoub, Al-Kadha, Al-Kuwaiha, and Al-Barah, all the way to the areas connected to Al-Wazi’iyah, in an attempt - according to field data - to threaten the Taiz-Al-Mokha road, separate the Taiz axis from the coastal forces, disperse the government reserve, and protect the group’s positions in Hodeidah from any counter-movement.
In the southeast of Taiz, government forces achieved progress on the Haifan front on Saturday. The “Fourth Hazm Brigade” was able to control Tabat Al-Wathra and Tabat Saeed Taha, in the Al-Mafalis area, in addition to Tabab Dhiban, Hadera, and Al-Najdin.
These sites overlook Al-Khazja Market and the Houthi supply lines towards a number of fronts northwest of Lahj and south of Taiz, which gives them military importance within the framework of operations aimed at putting pressure on the group from more than one axis.
Military response missiles in Al-Jawf
In conjunction with the battles, the Houthi group targeted the city of Taiz, at dawn on Sunday, with three ballistic missiles that fell near the social welfare building and the vicinity of the College of Medicine and the central prison west of the city, without causing human casualties, according to local sources.
The group also continued to target civilians with snipers in residential areas west of Taiz, which led to the injury of 4 civilians, including 3 children and a woman, in the Al-Kadha and Al-Rahba areas.
In Al-Jawf Governorate, northeast of Sanaa, Armed Forces spokesman Colonel Majid Al-Nuzaili announced that the forces carried out a military response to the Houthi escalation targeting the Al-Labnat camp, stressing “the destruction and neutralization of the capabilities and elements” of the group in the camp, and the use of qualitative military capabilities that were recently introduced into service.
This comes while the map of field control is still unstable on some Taiz fronts, at a time when government forces are trying to transform reinforcements and air support into a ground counterattack that will re-secure the road between Taiz and the coast, and prevent the Houthis from consolidating the gains they achieved at the beginning of the escalation.
The head of the Yemeni Presidential Command Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, saluted the government forces and military formations, praising the gains they had achieved during the past hours in Taiz and Hodeidah, the completion of the liberation and security of the Hays District, and the role played by the Air Force in supporting the ground forces.
Al-Alimi stressed - during his contacts with military and field commanders - the necessity of stabilizing the liberated areas, clearing the sites where the group infiltrated, maintaining the initiative, and raising the level of coordination between the various military units and formations.
He stressed that government forces are capable of reclaiming the lands, warning the Houthis of the consequences of escalation, stressing at the same time the necessity of adhering to international humanitarian law and the rules of engagement, protecting civilians, and treating detainees well.
He called on tribesmen and those who were deceived in Houthi-controlled areas not to throw their sons into the fighting, at a time when the process of capturing dozens of Houthi members, including minors, reveals an aspect of the nature of the mobilization that the group relied on in its recent attack on the Sahel and Taiz fronts.
Thousands of Yemenis displaced as a result of the recent Houthi escalation in western Taiz Governorate and southern Hodeidah Governorate are living in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, in light of the continued expansion of the confrontations, while more than 80 percent of them are still without shelter.
According to government data, more than 12,000 people were displaced during the last three days alone, while thousands more are still stuck behind fire lines after the Houthis positioned themselves among the villages and the surrounding highlands.
Government sources on the Yemeni western coast told Asharq Al-Awsat that the districts of Mawza, Al-Waziyah and Dhubab received thousands of people fleeing the battles, due to the Houthi escalation in the districts of Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi and the transfer of confrontations to the center of population centers, while similar numbers took refuge in neighboring districts in search of safer areas.
Thousands of civilians are still trapped behind the contact lines, at a time when the risks facing families wishing to flee combat areas are increasing. The sources reported that the Houthi group targeted a car carrying a family fleeing the fighting in the Al-Kadha area, wounding four of its members, including seven-year-old children.
The Yemeni government called on the United Nations and humanitarian organizations working in the country to hold an emergency meeting before the end of this week or the beginning of next week, to discuss urgent interventions towards the displaced in western Taiz and southern Hodeidah.
1400 families
As of last Friday evening, the Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons' Camps in Yemen monitored the displacement of 1,395 families in the governorates of Taiz and Hodeidah, as a result of the military escalation launched by the Houthi group in a number of areas, which prompted families to leave their homes and displacement sites and move to safer areas.
According to the unit's field reports, the number of displaced families in Taiz reached 1,149 families, distributed among the districts of Jabal Habashi, Al-Maafer, Maqbanah, Mawza', Al-Shamaytain, and Al-Mudhaffar, after their displacement from areas that witnessed escalation and bombing, especially in Maqbanah, Jabal Habashi, and Al-Maafer.
In Hodeidah, the unit monitored the displacement of 246 families to the districts of Hays and Al-Khawkhah, including 207 families to Hays and 39 families to Al-Khawkhah, as a result of war, clashes and armed conflict. The families were distributed among a number of villages and locations within the two districts.
The Executive Unit said that displaced families in the two governorates face increasing humanitarian needs, most notably shelter, food, drinking water, sanitation, health care, protection, and basic supplies, while some families need urgent shelter solutions, especially those who arrived without housing or are residing in temporary arrangements.
The Executive Unit teams in the two governorates continue to monitor and record the movement of displacement, follow up on the places where families settle and determine their needs, and coordinate with local authorities, concerned parties and humanitarian partners, with the aim of facilitating the reception of the displaced and enhancing the response to the increasing needs.
The unit warned of the possibility of the displacement movement continuing and expanding if the escalation continues, stressing the necessity of raising the level of preparedness, accelerating the humanitarian response, providing the basic needs of displaced families, and supporting the areas receiving them.
Displacement waves in western Taiz
Recent UN data distributed by the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs showed that more than 27,000 civilians were displaced from the west of Taiz Governorate alone as a result of the Houthi escalation in the districts of Jabal Habashi and Maqbanah, and warned that these families eat less than three meals a day after moving to neighboring districts under government control.
The UN office stated that about 1,790 families in Taiz Governorate have been displaced since September 3 until now, as a result of renewed clashes and artillery shelling in several areas of the Maqbana and Jabal Habashi districts, west of the governorate.
According to the report, most of the displaced families moved within the districts of Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi, and moved to nearby villages or to relatives living in locations within the two districts, while other families headed to the districts of Al-Maafer and Al-Shamaytain, or to Mawza and Dhubab on the western coast, in search of safer areas.
The UN office indicated the evacuation of entire sites for the displaced in the Jabal Habashi and Maqbanah districts, including the Al-Hajab and Al-Rajhi sites, which caused second waves of displacement, warning that some families are still stuck near the front line areas due to the continued bombing and the difficulty of transportation.
For its part, the Displacement Tracking Matrix of the International Organization for Migration reported that it recorded the displacement of 274 families, including 1,644 individuals, during the last week of last August, bringing the total number of newly displaced families registered since the beginning of this year to 2,631 families, including 15,786 individuals.
The organization said in its weekly report that the recent escalation of the conflict in Taiz Governorate led to a significant increase in internal displacement cases, noting that estimates show the recent displacement of 215 families within the governorate within a week, while the majority moved to safer areas, especially the Mawza, Maqbanah and Al-Mukha districts.
It reported that 95 percent of the families were displaced for reasons related to the conflict, with a number of 261 families, while 4 percent of the families, 12 families, were displaced for economic reasons. Financial support emerged as the most urgent need for about 61 percent of displaced families, followed by shelter at 27 percent, food aid at 8 percent, and non-food items at 3 percent.
Over the past few hours, the Houthi group has intensified forced recruitment campaigns in a number of villages and regions of Ibb Governorate, targeting in particular young men and children, coinciding with the escalation of confrontations on the West Coast and Taiz fronts, and the group is incurring human losses, according to informed local sources who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The sources said that Houthi supervisors - based on directives from senior leaders in the group - began implementing recruitment and forced recruitment campaigns in a number of districts in the Western Square of Ibb Governorate, in an attempt to replenish their ranks with new elements and strengthen their military positions.
The sources added that recruitment operations focused on young men, in addition to targeting children in some areas of the districts of Al-Udayn, Branch Al-Adayn, Hazm Al-Adayn and Madhikhara, amid pressure and threats exerted against the families to push their children to join camps and sites affiliated with the group.
A resident of the targeted areas - who preferred to remain anonymous for fear that he or his family would be exposed to harassment - told Asharq Al-Awsat that since noon last Saturday, Houthi supervisors began moving between villages and residential areas, urging families to send their children to the front lines, amid increasing pressure on families.
He added that the campaign was not limited to young men, but rather included boys at an early age. Pointing out that some families are trying to avoid responding to conscription demands, for fear of throwing their children into areas of confrontation.
In another testimony, a resident of the governorate reported that the Houthi state of alert had become more apparent in a number of areas, coinciding with the intensification of supervisors’ movements and the holding of meetings with notables, notables and people of the targeted districts, with the aim of mobilizing new fighters.
He said that residents are living in a state of anxiety, with increasing talk about the possibility of the confrontations expanding and approaching the western regions of the governorate, adding that families fear that their children will be exposed to pressure to force them to join the front lines.
A local activist, who requested to remain anonymous, confirmed that recruitment campaigns have become a growing source of concern for residents. Especially targeting younger groups, calling for protecting children and preventing them from being involved in military operations.
Military movement and improvement of fortifications
In the Al-Udayn branch district, adjacent to the areas of Jabal Ras and Al-Jarahi in Hodeidah Governorate, local sources reported to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iran-backed Houthi group pushed dozens of new recruits to new positions, in conjunction with the establishment of military points and trenches in a number of towns, villages, and isolation areas located in the western regions of the district.
According to the sources, these movements came in the wake of a state of panic and alert among the group’s fighters, against the backdrop of what the sources described as the progress of the joint forces on the West Coast Front. The group faces increasing field pressure and losses among its members.
The sources explained that the group intensified its deployment in the western regions of the Al-Udayn branch, and worked to strengthen its positions and create new fortifications and points, in anticipation of any possible advance of the joint forces towards the areas adjacent to the district.
These movements come in conjunction with rapid military developments on the West Coast front, amid fears among the group - according to local and military sources - that operations will move to areas closer to Ibb Governorate.
According to the sources, the Houthi group is looking with concern at the possibilities of the joint forces advancing towards the city of Al-Jarahi in Hodeidah Governorate, then the Jabal Ras area, all the way to the western square districts of Ibb Governorate.
The sources believe that the proximity of these areas to Ibb Governorate explains - to a large extent - the state of alert that the group is witnessing in the governorate, and its attempt to strengthen its military and security presence by bringing in more members, intensifying recruitment operations, establishing new sites and points, and improving its fortifications in the western regions.
The sources indicate that these movements reflect - according to their assessment - the efforts of the Houthi group to prepare for any potential field developments that may be imposed by the rapid transformations on the West Coast Front. Especially in areas close to the contact lines.
