Yemen’s front line holds after the Red Sea setback

The Houthis may have taken Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month, but the next phase of the war has been rather less obliging. In Taiz governorate, they have mounted intense attacks across the frontlines, only to meet government forces that say they are still holding their ground and have even inflicted heavy losses. War, like geography, has a way of refusing to cooperate with ambition.

The pressure is not confined to one patch of ground. Fighting has continued since early September in Taiz, and the same pattern has been reported in the Kahboub Mountains overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and in Lahj, south of Taiz. So far, though, there has been no major shift that can be tied to the general mobilisation called by Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, on September 25.

That mobilisation appears to be more about preparation than immediacy. Abdul Basir al-Bahr, a senior official with the internationally recognised government army’s Taiz Military Axis, said the plan includes bringing reserve personnel back into the military’s ranks and retraining them, alongside local anti-Houthi fighters and civilian volunteers. He said the effort is still at an early stage, and that its impact on the battlefield cannot yet be measured. Field commanders in Taiz told Al Jazeera that the mobilisation had not yet produced frontline reinforcements.

None of this means the fighting has slackened. On Monday, Colonel Majid al-Nazili, spokesman for the government’s military forces, said they had carried out more than 400 strikes in 24 hours against Houthi positions, causing losses in personnel and equipment. Government forces have also reported increasing use of air power, drones, artillery and other strikes against Houthi reinforcements.

The reason the front has not broken appears to be fairly plain. Taiz and Lahj offer more favourable defensive terrain than the coast, and government-aligned forces have had time to reinforce the areas the Houthis are trying to reach. In Taiz, Lahj and Marib in the north, anti-Houthi forces also have years of experience stopping rebel advances, and they appear more unified than when the Red Sea coast was lost.

That earlier setback was helped by weak coordination among anti-Houthi forces, which were formally under one military chain of command but slow to respond. This time, the Houthis need the mountainous high ground overlooking Bab al-Mandeb and the roads inland if they want to turn their coastal gains into something more durable. They have not managed to take that ground. The result, for now, is a contest over roads and supply lines rather than a repeat of the rapid breakthrough seen on the Red Sea coast.

Written by Thorben Thiede thorben.thiede@alpineweekly.com