Yemen launches push against Houthis after losses near key oil route

A port city and strategic islands on a major global oil route are part of the backdrop to Yemen’s latest military escalation. After Houthi forces seized Mocha and islands in the Bab al-Mandeb strait in mid-September, the country’s internationally recognised leadership has announced a campaign to recover all remaining Houthi-held territory, according to Al Jazeera.

Rashad al-Alimi, the Saudi Arabia-backed head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, announced the operation in a televised address on Sunday, October 4. He said the goal was to bring the whole country back under state authority. His instructions covered the armed forces, security services and other military formations, which he said would act under an approved plan.

Al-Alimi said all state institutions would remain on full alert until the campaign’s mission was accomplished.

A nationwide goal after a sharp escalation

The announcement followed a day of extensive attacks reported by government forces. Their spokesman, Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, said Yemeni forces had conducted 257 precision targeting operations on Saturday against Houthi positions, movements and military capabilities. He said initial estimates put the number of Houthi fighters killed at no fewer than 700. That figure was presented as a preliminary assessment by the government side, rather than an established count.

The Saudi-led coalition backing the government separately reported further military action early on Sunday. It said its forces had carried out 97 targeting operations against Houthi reinforcements along the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis. The coalition described the use of warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers. Those figures describe separate reported rounds of operations, one attributed to Yemeni forces on Saturday and the other to coalition forces on Sunday.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malik also criticised the Houthis on Saturday, saying their links to outside agendas had brought destruction and disorder to Yemen. The conflict places the Saudi-backed government against an Iran-backed armed group. Al-Alimi’s stated objective goes beyond stabilising the latest front lines: he is seeking to re-establish state institutions throughout the country, including territory that remains under Houthi control.

An oil-shipping passage in the conflict’s path

For commodity markets, the geographical stakes centre on Bab al-Mandeb, which Al Jazeera identifies as a vital passage for global oil shipments. The Houthis’ mid-September capture of strategic islands there came alongside their seizure of Mocha. Anti-Houthi forces subsequently stabilised the front lines. The account does not report a resulting interruption to oil shipments or provide evidence of a price reaction.

The renewed campaign also follows a worsening humanitarian situation. Fighting intensified after a fragile truce dating from 2022 collapsed in July, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Yemen’s war began after the Houthis took the capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and the government withdrew to Aden. The next development to watch is whether the newly announced campaign changes control of Houthi-held territory, particularly around the port and islands tied to the oil-shipping route.