Arab News | Yemeni government forces target Houthi buildup in new preemptive strategy

AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni government forces have adopted a military strategy focused on targeting Houthi reinforcements and gatherings deep inside territory controlled by the Iran-backed militia, in an effort to preemptively thwart any attempt to launch another large-scale offensive, Yemeni military experts and officials said.

Government and military officials who investigated the reasons behind the collapse of the National Resistance Forces and the eventual Houthi capture of Mokha, the forces’ main base, found that one factor was the failure to target the Houthis as they amassed large numbers of fighters and military equipment in Taiz for almost a month before launching their offensive.

Now, Yemeni warplanes, drones and artillery are striking Houthi military positions, suspected assembly points and reinforcements far beyond the front lines, both to prevent the militia from preparing for possible assaults and, as military officers put it, to wear down its manpower and firepower through attrition.

Ibrahim Jalal, a senior researcher and policy adviser, told Arab News that Yemeni government forces are putting into practice lessons learned from the fall of Mokha, shifting toward the use of available military capabilities to undermine Houthi preparations for any possible offensive.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces is increasingly trying to disrupt Houthi combat power before it reaches the front,” Jalal said. “The expanding air and UAV campaign is targeting reinforcements, command, weapons and sustainment in depth, an increasingly pre-emptive approach shaped by the operational lesson of Mokha.”

He said the government had learned that allowing the Houthis to reinforce the battlefield and assemble large numbers of fighters and military equipment could enable them to launch another major offensive against government-controlled areas. As a result, government forces have increasingly sought to weaken Houthi military capabilities before they reach the front lines. “The operational logic is pre-emption. Mokha demonstrated the cost of allowing Houthi formations to assemble, reinforce and generate sufficient local combat power before effective interdiction,” Jalal said.

Shortly after the Houthis seized Mokha and a large swathe of Red Sea areas on Sept. 9 and 10, Yemeni government forces established what they called a “kill zone” around Mokha and extensively bombarded Houthi military reinforcements, gatherings, positions and checkpoints, as well as fighters moving toward the battlefield on motorbikes.

At the same time, Yemeni warplanes and drones struck Houthi military bases in Taiz, Al-Bayda, Al-Jawf and other Houthi-controlled areas where the militia was believed to be mobilizing fighters and military equipment in preparation for attacks on government forces.

On Sunday, the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out what local officers described as one of its biggest and most precise air operations, targeting a major Houthi military base in Al-Huban district in Taiz province. They said a large number of Houthi fighters who had arrived from different Houthi-controlled areas and assembled at the base in preparation for deployment to the battlefield were killed or wounded.

Yemeni officers said the strikes not only thwarted preparations for a possible Houthi offensive, potentially against the city of Taiz, but also significantly degraded the militia’s manpower and firepower.

“The emerging government approach is therefore to maximise attrition during force generation and deployment: identify concentrations in depth, interdict movement along GLOCs and Main Supply Routes (MSRs), degrade weapons and sustainment, and reduce combat power before units reach attack positions. The objective is increasingly to disrupt the offensive system upstream rather than contain it after a breakthrough,” Jalal said.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Al-Hatemi, director of the Yemeni Armed Forces’ media department, told Arab News that the strategy also focuses on eroding Houthi manpower and firepower to the point where the militia is unable to launch further major attacks, while paving the way for Yemeni government forces to launch what he called a “decisive operation” aimed at retaking Houthi-controlled areas, including the capital, Sanaa.

“The army’s strategy centers on luring the enemy, wearing them down through attrition, and establishing ‘death traps,’” Al-Hatemi said.

“The goal is to exhaust the enemy in preparation for the next phase: the decisive battle,” he said, adding that targeting troop concentrations was part of the attrition strategy, aimed at preventing Houthi forces from massing and thwarting potential attacks.

“Fundamentally, the operation aims to deplete the enemy and drastically increase the cost of the conflict, thereby deterring them from launching counteroffensives. Current efforts focus on targeting troop concentrations and reinforcements, as well as striking supply lines far behind the front lines,” he said.

Heavy government airstrikes have slowed the Houthi advance, which has stalled in parts of southern Yemen. Houthi forces have met stiff resistance from Yemeni government troops and allied tribesmen in Lahj province as they seek to seize a strategic mountain overlooking the Bab Al-Mandab Strait. The Houthis have also so far failed to seize control of Taiz province or make significant advances against government forces defending the central city of Marib.