Houthi Offensive on Taiz Threatens Red Sea Corridor
Houthi forces clashed with government troops across 5 front lines around Taiz on Friday, leaving more than 80 fighters dead in the heaviest combat since a 2022 ceasefire collapsed. The coordinated assault and airstrikes on Sanaa threaten to seize southwestern highlands, imperiling vital commercial shipping through the adjacent Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The Houthis shattered Yemen's four-year truce to seize the Red Sea coastline — rebel control over the Bab al-Mandab strait turns a domestic civil war into an international maritime chokehold.
Background Yemen has been divided since 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa, sparking a Saudi-led coalition intervention that stalemated into an uneasy 2022 truce. Recent rebel pushes along the Red Sea coast shattered that armistice, reviving direct proxy clashes between Riyadh and Tehran-aligned forces.
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UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warned of grave civilian danger as artillery exchanges severed highways into Taiz, where over 80,000 recently displaced refugees remain trapped without reliable aid corridors.
Saudi air defenses intercepted multiple Houthi drones after a strike disabled an electrical transformer in Medina, prompting Gulf monarchies to accuse rebel leaders of deliberately targeting holy city infrastructure.
Yemeni government warplanes launched 20 coordinated airstrikes to stall rebel advances toward Mayyun Island, aiming to prevent Houthi artillery from securing direct fire-control over the Bab al-Mandab shipping strait.
UN relief agencies reported over 145,000 civilians have fled front-line combat zones since September, overwhelming makeshift desert camps and threatening to trigger a catastrophic secondary famine across western Yemen.
Watch Saudi-backed counteroffensive around Taiz: if government brigades fail to hold the western heights, the Houthis will command artillery range over Bab al-Mandab tankers and force Western navies back into Red Sea combat.
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