Tensions rise as Yemen army launches broad strikes against Houthis

TAIZ

A Yemeni man inspects melted foam inside a factory after a strike that Houthi authorities-run media attributed to Saudi Arabia, in the Shamlan neighbourhood of Yemen's capital Sanaa on Oct. 4, 2026. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) /

The Saudi-led military coalition announced on Oct. 5 its participation in the new Yemen government offensive targeting the Iran-backed Houthis, with 100 warplanes used in dawn strikes to provide air cover for ground forces.

“100 fighter jets participated at dawn today in Operation ‘Dawn of Yemen,’” coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, using the name for the new offensive announced on Oct. 4.

“Round-the-clock air support for the Yemeni armed forces on the ground.”

He said the coalition has secured “air protection” of the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait and destroyed hundreds of Houthi targets as part of the ongoing campaign.

The coalition’s announcement came after the Yemeni military said it launched a broad set of strikes against Houthi targets on Oct. 5, after the country’s internationally recognized government declared a
new campaign to retake all territory.

The Iran-backed Houthis have made fresh gains in recent weeks, capturing swaths of the country’s Red Sea coastline and territory around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key chokepoint for international shipping.

At war against the government, the Houthis launched a lightning offensive in September that has killed hundreds of combatants on both sides and, according to U.N. figures, forced more than 145,000
people to flee their homes.

Hours after the government announcement, Yemen’s military spokesman said its forces launched over 1,000 “strikes against artillery and rocket launcher positions, defensive fortifications, approach and reinforcement routes, supply lines and logistics assets, combat reinforcements” belonging to the Houthis.

The government strikes, however, have yet to blunt ongoing Houthi advances on the ground.
On Oct. 4, the group effectively encircled the key city of Taiz after cutting the main supply route linking the city to the interim government capital of Aden.

“It is a significant development, but I think it is still too early to say that we are witnessing a decisive turning point,” Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.

Taiz city itself remains under the control of government forces but has long been besieged from the north, east and west by Houthi fighters and remains one of the main fronts in Yemen’s long-running civil war.

The fighting in Yemen has also drawn in Saudi Arabia, leader of an anti-Houthi military coalition since 2015, with the group regularly claiming attacks on the kingdom’s territory in recent weeks and declaring a blockade of its ships in the Red Sea.