Yemen is experiencing its most intense week of fighting in months, with government forces and Houthi rebels clashing simultaneously on several fronts as aid agencies warn of a fresh wave of civilian displacement.
In Taez province, government warplanes carried out a wave of overnight strikes on Houthi positions along the Dhabab and Hayfan front lines, while more than twenty raids hit rebel sites in neighboring Bayda province. Houthi fighters, for their part, sealed off the eastern approach to Taez city, tightening pressure on an urban center already scarred by years of intermittent siege.
Government forces say they shot down five Houthi drones near al-Aghbara and carried out a fresh series of air raids against Houthi targets nationwide. Houthi-aligned media reported a separate air raid on the Baqim district of Saada province, the movement’s traditional stronghold in Yemen’s mountainous northwest.
On the political front, Yemen’s government announced it is regrouping troops along the western coast to retake ground lost in Taez province after weeks of retreat. The prime minister explicitly linked the Houthi offensive to what he called « Iranian agendas, » while a member of the Presidential Leadership Council described recapturing the capital Sanaa as the loyalist forces’ « ultimate objective. »
The surge in violence follows the fall of the port city of Mokha and the Houthi takeover of Dhubab district, along with several islands and territory near the strategically vital Bab al-Mandab strait, developments local officials describe as opening « a new chapter » in the war. A senior American official said Washington is working with regional partners to reinforce freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, while Djibouti voiced concern that the security fallout could spill over into the wider Horn of Africa, noting that security on both shores of the strait is now « directly intertwined. »
On the humanitarian side, the International Organization for Migration says roughly 76,000 people have been displaced inside Yemen since July, with close to 1,400 more crossing into Djibouti as refugees. Displaced families in Lahj province say they have received little to no humanitarian assistance, even as fighting rages unabated across multiple fronts. Yemen’s prime minister said the Red Sea shipping-lane crisis « concerns the interests of the entire world, » underscoring what he called the conflict’s growing regional and international dimensions.
