The civil war in Yemen has spread much more widely than usual to areas other than those around its western coastline. In early September, Yemeni troops undertook a surprise offensive in Al-Jawf province, moving into desert areas controlled by Houthis.
At first, there were reports of significant victories, with troops capturing “vast areas” of northern Al-Jawf and disrupting Houthi supply lines near the provincial capital of al-Hazm.
However, the Houthis retaliated with their own account of events. The officially named group Ansar Allah released some video material purportedly showing how its fighters were able to repel the government troops in Al-Jawf.
The Houthi-owned Al-Masirah TV also aired video footage that was described as the battle between the Houthi fighters and the government forces on the move, including the crash site of the CH-4 drone operated by Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis stated that a large number of government troops were either killed or captured, as well as some military vehicles destroyed. None of the above numbers of casualties can be verified.
Al-Jawf is just one of many fronts where fighting has taken place in a war which has heated up considerably in recent months. According to Yemen’s government troops, more than 500 troops have been killed while some 1,500 others were injured during one month of fighting against the Houthis on the western coast, from August 9 until September 10.
According to this statement, there were more than 1,000 casualties among the ranks of the Houthis as well – a figure which could not be independently confirmed either.
The current escalation in violence is attributable to a specific event that sparked off the conflict. There was a renewed outbreak of fighting after the Houthis attempted to fly a plane from Iran to Sanaa amidst an ongoing decade-long Saudi embargo on the movement of aircrafts and vessels into Sanaa.
There was an air strike that was aimed at the airport in Sanaa in order to stop the plane from landing. This was followed by an attack using missile and drones against Saudi Arabia and blockading Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
Houthis have used drones and missiles to attack various cities of Saudi Arabia including Khamis Mushait, Abha, Jizan, and Najran, wounding many people.
Oil facilities in Yanbu and Jizan were damaged as a result of their attack. An air strike launched by Saudi Arabia on a prison in Hazem area of Al-Jawf killed at least seven people, including a child.
The region of Al-Jawf is not new to this form of contentious desert combat either. As far back as 2020, the Houthis waged a long battle there which culminated in a conclusive defeat of the Houthis who captured the provincial capital, al-Hazm, as well as the majority of its twelve districts and other Saudi-supported coalition bases.
Prior to this, the Houthi control was almost complete in all the regions of northern Yemen except for the province of Marib. The current fighting indicates that the government forces may be trying to regain some ground lost six years ago, through a reverse of the desert offensive.
In light of all these claims and counter-claims emanating from the Al-Jawf province, with casualties from both sides mounting to hundreds, the reality of the battleground situation is genuinely unknown.
The one thing that can be said with certainty about the war in Yemen is that after remaining suspended for years due to a temporary truce, it is now being waged in several fronts.
