Yemeni Government Forces Hold Frontlines in Taiz Following Red Sea Losses

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched intense attacks across frontlines in Taiz governorate on Thursday, seeking to build on their recent lightning offensive that captured the country’s Red Sea coast last month. Despite these assaults, Yemeni government forces have successfully held their ground and claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the Houthis.

However, there are few indications that the Saudi-backed government plans to launch an immediate counteroffensive, even though Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, called for a general mobilisation against the rebels on September 25. Instead, the government is pursuing a gradual approach to rebuild and unify its military ranks.

Abdul Basir al-Bahr, a senior official with the internationally recognised government army’s Taiz Military Axis, stated that the general mobilisation call aims to bring reserve personnel back into the military, alongside local anti-Houthi fighters and civilian volunteers for retraining. Al-Bahr noted that these measures are still in the early stages, and their battlefield impact remains to be seen.

Field monitoring by Al Jazeera in Taiz indicates that fighting has continued since early September without major shifts resulting directly from the mobilisation. Similar conditions persist on other fronts, including the Kahboub Mountains overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and in Lahj, south of Taiz. Yemeni government field commanders reported that the mobilisation has not yet brought frontline reinforcements, though military activity has intensified.

On Monday, Colonel Majid al-Nazili, spokesman for the government’s military forces, announced that troops had carried out more than 400 strikes over a 24-hour period against the Houthis, resulting in losses of personnel and equipment.

The ability of government forces to halt further Houthi advances stems partly from favourable defensive terrain in the Taiz mountains and Lahj, combined with increased firepower. The earlier loss of the coastline was exacerbated by weak coordination among anti-Houthi forces, but forces in Taiz, Lahj, and Marib have since demonstrated greater unity and years of experience in checking Houthi advances.

Government-aligned forces have utilised this time to reinforce key areas. Furthermore, the use of air power has grown, with forces reporting hundreds of air, drone, and artillery strikes targeting Houthi positions and reinforcements.

Having seized parts of the Red Sea coast, the Houthis now require control of the mountainous high ground overlooking Bab al-Mandeb and the inland roads to consolidate their gains. Their attempts to capture this high ground have failed thus far, and the expanded territory has increased their manpower and logistical burdens. The conflict has increasingly transformed into a battle over roads and supply lines, with neither side able to achieve a rapid breakthrough comparable to the initial offensive on the Red Sea coast.