Yemen forces counterattack Houthis amid Marib escalation
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- Yemeni government forces launched attacks on Houthi positions "along multiple axes and along the line of contact" on Saturday — the first announced counteroffensive in months — framing the operation as retaliation for Houthi preemptive strikes on army positions in Marib and Hadramout, per Al Jazeera's Yousef Mawry reporting from Sanaa.
- Houthi forces killed at least 30 government soldiers and wounded 15 others in Thursday missile and drone strikes on Hadramout and Marib provinces, then followed up with renewed shelling of Marib city on Friday that killed two civilians and wounded 14, according to Yemen's Health Ministry.
- Marib city, which hosts more than 2 million of Yemen's nearly 5 million displaced people, is now the focal point of the escalation, with Deputy Information Minister Mohammed Gezan saying the Houthis "resumed shelling civilian neighbourhoods" while the Houthis claim they are targeting a military camp on the city's outskirts.
- The Houthis say they are acting on suspicions that government forces are coordinating with Saudi Arabia on a broader offensive against Houthi-held territory, per Al Jazeera's reporting.
- Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East specialist and president of Girton College at Cambridge, told Al Jazeera the escalation carries a "looming possibility" of tipping Yemen back into full-scale conflict because "the civil war in Yemen never really technically ended" and the 2022 truce has expired — and she warned "all the warning signs are there."
- Kendall also noted that government forces are now more unified than in previous years, a shift that could work in the government's favor if Saudi Arabia intervenes decisively alongside them.
- The United Nations has called for de-escalation, condemning both the Houthi missile attacks on Yemen and the group's continued strikes on oil tankers in the Red Sea.
Why it matters: With Marib — home to more than 2 million of Yemen's 5 million displaced people — now under renewed missile and drone shelling, and the 2022 truce formally expired, the humanitarian stakes are immediate for a civilian population already devastated by years of war. The Houthis explicitly cited suspicion of Saudi-government coordination on a broader offensive, and a Cambridge expert told Al Jazeera "all the warning signs are there" for full-scale conflict to return after years of relative calm.
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