Iran<\/a> to end before the US midterm elections at the start of November.<\/p>\nThe latest phase in the escalation began when Houthis attacked energy installations and southern cities in Saudi Arabia using drones and ballistic missiles. In response, the kingdom\u2019s military forces launched at least 15 strikes between 3 and 7 September.<\/p>\n
The aftermath of Houthi strikes on Mocha last month. The rebel group claims it now controls the port. Photograph: Al Joumhouriya TV\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The conflict data monitor Acled estimated there were 276 fatalities over the five-day period alone. The fighting has continued, with the Houthis claiming control of Mocha in Taiz province, as well as the inland city of Hays and the Khalid ibn al-Walid camp, the largest military base in the region. One Houthi-linked estimate suggested rebel forces had gained control of more than 2,320 sq miles (6,000 sq km) of land.<\/p>\n
The commander of the Yemeni government forces, Maj Gen Tareq Saleh, admitted he had organised a strategic retreat south of Mocha in order to regroup in a secure location. \u201cThe armed forces in the western coast paid a heavy price \u2013 martyrs and wounded \u2013 over the past days as they confronted the Houthi attack planned by Iran, and supported by it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A satellite image shows smoke billowing from an Aramco oil depot near the Saudi city of Abha after a Houthi attack. Photograph: Planet Labs\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, continues to take advantage of its air superiority to attack Houthi positions, though government sources acknowledged the rebels\u2019 ground advances along the coast and their missile strikes on the strategic Red Sea islands of Zuqar and Hanish.<\/p>\n
The clashes have ranged across Yemen, including Ad Dali, al-Bayda, Marib, Shabwah, al-Jawf, Hodeidah, and Taiz. In the initial days of the renewed conflict the Houthis found themselves being forced back in some areas as battles on multiple fronts overstretched their resources and fighter numbers.<\/p>\n
The Houthis will be hoping political divisions inside the Yemeni government, reflected in a lack of an integrated military, will slowly give them the upper hand. The United Arab Emirates, previously a powerful player in southern Yemen where it backed the separatist forces of the Southern Transitional Council, withdrew its financial and military support at the turn of the year. The southern forces have refused to fight outside their own region.<\/p>\n
A screengrab from video footage released by the Saudi-backed forces shows a fighter firing at Houthi rebels in Taiz province. Photograph: Yemen National Resistance Forces\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cA reduction in hostilities anytime soon seems unlikely, as both sides continue to escalate with the goal of inflicting enough damage to the other side to force a compromise,\u201d said Sherwan Hindreen Ali, a Yemen analyst for Acled. \u201cIn terms of military capability, both sides are more equal compared to the immediate period prior to the 2022 ceasefire when the Houthis had the upper hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cFighting will remain focused on the fronts of the Red Sea coast in Hodeidah and Taiz, where both the Houthis and the Saudi Arabia-Yemen government have a vested interest in claiming the whole territory to deprive the other side of effective control of the strait of Bab al-Mandab.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fighting has contributed to the price of oil rising above $100 a barrel after weeks when it was trading closer to $80.<\/p>\n
A screengrab of video footage reportedly showing Houthi attacks on Saudi-backed forces in al-Jawf province. Photograph: Ansarullah Media Centre\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The escalantion to this week\u2019s all-out violence has been a slow process. It began after a senior Houthi delegation from the group, which has long been in a complex alliance with Iran, flew to Tehran for the funeral of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in July, returning in an Iranian plane that the Saudis refused to land in rebel-controlled Sana\u2019a.<\/p>\n
The Saudis instead bombed the runway, leading the Houthis to announce a Red Sea naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in what the Yemeni rebels described as a blockade for a blockade. The 20 July announcement of the blockade was followed by a strike on Saudi Arabia\u2019s Jazan refinery on 25 July and on a tanker off Yanbu on 24 August.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia has become reliant on the Red Sea route for trade after Iran throttled shipping through the strait of Hormuz following US-Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels are making a concerted drive to take full control of the country\u2019s Red Sea coast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-611831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}