Yemeni Government Forces Report Capture of Dhubab and Strategic Sites Near Bab al-Mandeb as Regional Powers Meet in Riyadh

Yemen's internationally recognised government announced on Monday that its forces had taken control of the Dhubab district and several strategic positions close to the Bab al-Mandeb strait, marking the first significant territorial gain since the launch of a broad military offensive against Houthi fighters a day earlier. The operation represents a notable escalation in a conflict that has simmered for more than a decade and threatens to reignite full-scale hostilities across the country's fractured front lines.

According to a statement issued by the Saudi-backed military and carried by Yemen's state-run Saba news agency, units from the Homeland Shield Forces and the Giants Brigades conducted a large-scale operation supported by air cover, targeting Houthi positions and movements across multiple areas of the district. The military described the advance as designed to sever supply routes and cut off roads leading toward the critical maritime chokepoint, through which a substantial portion of global commercial and energy traffic passes.

An unnamed army source quoted by Saba claimed that the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, suffered numerous casualties and lost military equipment during the clashes, with additional fighters wounded. The source added that government forces were continuing to comb and secure the areas they had entered while maintaining pressure on Houthi supply lines. These battlefield claims could not be independently verified by Al Jazeera, and both sides in Yemen's civil war have historically issued competing accounts of territorial control and casualties.

Earlier on Monday, Brigadier-General Majid Abdullah al-Nuzaili, a spokesman for Yemeni forces, said on the social media platform X that the military had launched 1,122 attacks against Houthi sites. He listed artillery positions, rocket launchers and command-and-control centres among the targets, and said the strikes employed warplanes, drones, missiles, rockets, artillery and snipers across the provinces of Saada, al-Jawf and Taiz, as well as along the coast. Al-Nuzaili asserted that 1,747 Houthi fighters had been killed, a figure that likewise could not be independently confirmed.

The reported advances came one day after Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, the executive body of the internationally recognised government, announced the start of military operations aimed at retaking the remaining territory held by the Houthis. The announcement signalled a shift from the relative stalemate that had prevailed along many front lines in recent weeks and raised expectations of a prolonged campaign.

The current round of fighting follows a dramatic Houthi surge in mid-September, when the group swept across parts of western Yemen, capturing the port city of Mocha and several strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb strait. That offensive jolted anti-Houthi forces and prompted warnings that the group could threaten international shipping lanes more directly. Since then, government-aligned forces and their coalition partners have largely stabilised the front lines, setting the stage for the counteroperation now under way.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, forcing the internationally recognised government to relocate to the southern port city of Aden. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to restore the government, but the war has since evolved into a complex, multi-sided struggle that has drawn in regional powers and produced one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises. A fragile truce reached in 2022 offered a measure of relief, but its collapse in July reopened the door to renewed combat.

The latest battlefield developments coincide with high-level diplomatic activity in Riyadh. Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi and Turkish officials, accompanied by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and military chief Asim Munir. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the delegation would meet counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Monday. The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, a pact stipulating that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all, aimed at strengthening collective deterrence and expanding regional defence cooperation.

Dar said last week that the urgent talks would consider a proposal for political engagement with the Iran-aligned Houthis as an alternative to military action, following an approach by Tehran. That diplomatic track underscores the tension between efforts to de-escalate and the government's newly announced determination to press its military advantage. The Mecca pact members have held earlier committee meetings, including one in Istanbul on August 31, as they work to operationalise their defence commitments.

Al Jazeera's Michael Appel noted that the Yemen war is expected to feature prominently in the Saudi-hosted discussions. He warned that civilians remain trapped along the fragmented front line, and that the announcement of an expanded military operation leaves tens of thousands facing the prospect of further displacement and hunger as the humanitarian crisis deepens. Aid agencies have long described Yemen as one of the most dangerous places in the world for civilians, with damaged infrastructure, limited access to food and water, and recurring outbreaks of disease compounding the effects of the fighting.

For the Houthis, the loss of Dhubab and positions near Bab al-Mandeb would represent a setback in a strategically vital area. The strait links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and serves as a gateway for global shipping, making control of its shores a matter of international concern. The Houthis have previously used their presence along the coast to threaten vessels, and any change in territorial control there carries implications beyond Yemen's borders, affecting trade routes, insurance costs and the calculations of naval powers operating in the region.

The coming days are likely to determine whether the government's operation produces lasting gains or settles into another round of attritional fighting. Much depends on the durability of the anti-Houthi coalition, the pace of coalition air support, and whether diplomatic channels in Riyadh can produce a framework for negotiations. For now, the announcement from Saba, the assertions of senior military spokesmen and the high-stakes meetings in the Saudi capital have combined to place Yemen's war once again at the centre of regional attention, with civilians bearing the heaviest cost of any renewed escalation.