Fighting in Yemen intensifies: What’s the latest on the battlefield?

A Houthi fighter takes part in an offensive against Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Taiz province [Handout/EPA via Masirah TV]

Forces aligned with Yemen’s government on Thursday said that they had intercepted a drone headed towards Medina in Saudi Arabia, and a missile fired towards Riyadh, amid escalating fighting between them and Yemen’s Houthi group.

Fighting between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels has intensified along the country’s western Red Sea coast, along with expanding Houthi attacks on oil facilities and airports in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

list 1 of 3 Food shortages in Yemen’s Taiz as Houthi siege hits supplies

list 2 of 3 Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi missile launched towards Riyadh

list 3 of 3 Iraq’s PM tells Saudi crown prince Iraqi territory will not be used for attacks

On Wednesday, Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah or Supporters of God, said the group’s forces had conducted “a high-quality military operation targeting Aramco in Dhahran”, as well as strikes on Riyadh airport and a refinery in the capital.

He added that operations “will continue in the coming days, targeting Saudi enemy airports and oil facilities”.

A Saudi Ministry of Energy official confirmed that a building belonging to Aramco in Dhahran was hit, resulting in a “limited fire” but “no casualties or fatalities”. Dhahran is home to Aramco’s headquarters, a vast complex comprising numerous buildings and residential compounds.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition launched strikes against the Houthi stronghold in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which the armed group seized in 2014 and has held ever since. The coalition fought the Houthis, who also seized large quantities of Yemen’s military assets, until a ceasefire was agreed in 2022. That ceasefire has broken down in recent months.

Reporting from Sanaa, Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry said the war has become a tit-for-tat exchange of blows. The Iran-backed group “will continue to launch these air strikes and … its goal is to meet fire with fire – air strike for air strike, capital for capital, airport for airport, and energy facility for energy facility”.

Which sites have the Houthis targeted in Saudi Arabia?

Recent Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia have mainly targeted key infrastructure on the outskirts of Riyadh, but they appear to be edging closer to the city centre.

Houthi attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid international airport over the weekend killed 14 people and wounded more than 300 others. Houthi attacks have also been reported on other airports, including Abha international airport in southern Saudi Arabia, where two people were killed, and on Saudi Aramco energy facilities.

Authorities say Riyadh airport will remain shut at least until Saturday as several airlines cancelled flights, emptying the skies over the kingdom’s capital.

Al Jazeera’s Mawry said Saudi Arabia “has much more to lose” from tit-for-tat attacks disrupting air traffic, as Sanaa international airport has been closed for many years due to the damage it has sustained over the years of civil war. There are currently no Yemeni airliners at the airport.

Additionally, by disrupting security, the Houthis are signalling that Saudi Arabia will suffer mounting economic costs for its involvement in Yemen. Earlier this year, the Houthis similarly began launching strikes on Saudi-linked shipping in and around the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on this shipping route for oil exports since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in March, under fire from the United States and Israel.

The kingdom is set to host a major investment conference in Riyadh later this month, dubbed “Davos in the desert”, but it is now unclear whether the event will go ahead amid the attacks.

Organisers of the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament, originally slated to begin next week in Riyadh, have announced the event will be pushed to December.

Saudi Arabia is also preparing to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from the Qatari capital, Doha, said, “These military hits by the Houthi forces are meant to create a pressure campaign that is also having knock-on economic effects.”

“The Gulf Cooperation Council has become a place where these enormous events have been playing out over the past year, and if they carry on, the international implications for the global economy will continue to be negative,” he added.

What’s the situation on the ground in Yemen?

Yemeni government forces are currently engaged in a major counteroffensive operation, called “ Dawn of Yemen “, to retake coastal territory seized in recent weeks by the Houthis near the Bab al-Mandeb strait , a vital maritime trade chokepoint.

The Saudi cabinet pledged in a meeting led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week that it “will not allow its security or freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb strait to be threatened”.

On Wednesday, Yemeni government forces said they had carried out 2,309 “targeting operations” against the Houthis as part of their “Dawn of Yemen” military campaign.

The forces’ spokesperson, Majeed al-Nuzaili, said the operations were conducted using combat aircraft, drones, artillery and rocket launchers, and destroyed 460 Houthi military vehicles.

Government forces say they have retaken areas in Sabr al-Mawadim and al-Sarari in Taiz governorate and have repelled a large Houthi attack west of Taiz city in southwest Yemen, a government-held city that was besieged by Houthi fighters earlier this month. Taiz governorate includes the flat, western coastal region on the Red Sea, which contains the port city of Mocha and the Bab al-Mandeb. Much of the governorate also lies within Yemen’s highlands while its capital, Taiz, is nestled between mountains.

Al Jazeera’s Mawry said fighting has been so intense in the area because of its strategic value. “Whoever controls the altitude and gains control of the mountains controls the landscape. They control the Red Sea coastlines and even the city of Taiz,” he said.

The internationally recognised Yemeni government has been calling for more reinforcements as well as Saudi air attacks on the positions recently taken over by the Houthis, mainly in the district of al-Misrakh, south of Taiz, and the district of at-Turbah, which are the gateways to the city of Taiz.

Mawry reported that while the Saudi-led coalition’s aerial strikes are forcing the Houthis to withdraw and retreat, allowing government forces to advance, they have not been able to gain a full hold over some of those positions.

“It is then followed by another counter-military offensive by the Ansar Allah group to retake the area. And this is sort of the routine that we have been seeing since early September,” he said.

The Houthi siege of Taiz has resulted in civilian casualties and severe shortages of fuel, gas and other supplies. On Wednesday, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported that wheat flour stocks have been nearly exhausted.

The Red Cross said front-line hospitals in areas including Marib, Taiz and Yemen’s Red Sea coast ⁠are registering unprecedented numbers of weapon-wounded patients, with some facilities admitting more than ⁠700 casualties in a single week.

一名胡塞武装人员在塔伊兹省参与了对沙特支持的也门军队的进攻。[图片由马西拉电视台提供/EPA]

周四，效忠也门政府的武装力量表示，他们拦截了一架飞往沙特阿拉伯麦地那的无人机和一枚射向利雅得的导弹。与此同时，他们与也门胡塞武装之间的战斗不断升级。

在也门西部红海沿岸，沙特支持的也门政府军与伊朗支持的胡塞武装之间的战斗愈演愈烈，同时胡塞武装对邻国沙特阿拉伯的石油设施和机场的袭击也在不断扩大。

也门塔伊兹地区因胡塞武装围困导致粮食短缺（共3条，此为第1条）

沙特领导的联军拦截胡塞武装向利雅得发射的导弹（共3条记录，此为第2条）

伊拉克总理告诉沙特王储，伊拉克领土不会被用于袭击（共3条，此为第3条）

周三，胡塞武装（又称安萨尔真主或真主的支持者）的军事发言人叶海亚·萨里表示，该组织的部队对达兰的阿美石油公司进行了“高质量的军事行动”，并袭击了利雅得机场和首都的一家炼油厂。

他还补充说，行动“将在未来几天继续进行，目标是沙特阿拉伯的敌方机场和石油设施”。

沙特能源部一位官员证实，位于达兰的沙特阿美公司一栋建筑遭到袭击，引发“小规模火灾”，但“无人伤亡”。达兰是沙特阿美公司总部所在地，其总部是一个庞大的建筑群，包含众多建筑和住宅区。

与此同时，沙特领导的联军对胡塞武装在也门首都萨那的据点发动了空袭。胡塞武装于2014年占领萨那，并一直控制至今。联军与胡塞武装交战，胡塞武装还夺取了也门的大量军事资产。双方于2022年达成停火协议，但近几个月来，停火协议已被打破。

半岛电视台记者优素福·马乌里从萨那报道称，这场战争已经演变成一场针锋相对的互殴。伊朗支持的武装组织“将继续发动空袭……其目标是以牙还牙——以空袭还空袭，以首都还首都，以机场还机场，以能源设施还能源设施”。

在沙特阿拉伯，胡塞武装的目标是哪些地点？

胡塞武装最近对沙特阿拉伯的袭击主要针对利雅得郊区的关键基础设施，但他们似乎正在向市中心逼近。

胡塞武装周末袭击了利雅得的哈立德国王国际机场，造成14人死亡，300多人受伤。据报道，胡塞武装还袭击了其他机场，包括沙特阿拉伯南部的艾卜哈国际机场（造成两人死亡）以及沙特阿美能源设施。

当局表示，由于多家航空公司取消航班，导致沙特首都上空空荡荡，利雅得机场至少将关闭至周六。

半岛电视台记者马乌里表示，沙特阿拉伯若遭遇以牙还牙式的袭击，导致空中交通中断，损失将“更大”，因为萨那国际机场由于多年内战的破坏而关闭多年。目前，该机场没有也门航空公司的航班。

此外，胡塞武装通过破坏安全局势，向世人发出信号：沙特阿拉伯将因其在也门的介入而付出日益沉重的经济代价。今年早些时候，胡塞武装也开始对红海入口处的曼德海峡及其周边与沙特有关的船只发动袭击。自伊朗在3月份因受到美国和以色列的炮火攻击而关闭霍尔木兹海峡以来，沙特阿拉伯越来越依赖这条航道出口石油。

沙特阿拉伯王国计划于本月晚些时候在利雅得举办一场名为“沙漠达沃斯”的大型投资会议，但鉴于目前的袭击事件，该会议是否会如期举行尚不明朗。

原定于下周在利雅得举行的六王网球大满贯赛事组织者宣布，该赛事将推迟至12月举行。

沙特阿拉伯也正在筹备举办2034年国际足联世界杯。

半岛电视台记者泽因·巴斯拉维从卡塔尔首都多哈报道称：“胡塞武装的这些军事袭击旨在制造压力，同时也产生了连锁经济影响。”

“过去一年来，海湾合作委员会已成为这些重大事件上演的场所，如果这种情况继续下去，对全球经济的国际影响将继续是负面的，”他补充道。

也门当地局势如何？

也门政府军目前正在进行一场名为“也门黎明”的大规模反攻行动，以夺回胡塞武装最近几周在曼德海峡附近占领的沿海领土。曼德海峡是重要的海上贸易咽喉要道。

本周，沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼主持召开内阁会议，承诺“绝不允许其在红海和曼德海峡的安全或航行自由受到威胁”。

周三，也门政府军表示，作为“也门黎明”军事行动的一部分，他们已对胡塞武装实施了 2309 次“目标打击行动”。

该部队发言人马吉德·努扎伊利表示，行动中使用了战斗机、无人机、火炮和火箭发射器，摧毁了 460 辆胡塞武装车辆。

政府军称已收复塔伊兹省萨布尔·马瓦迪姆和萨拉里地区的部分区域，并击退了胡塞武装在也门西南部塔伊兹市以西的大规模进攻。塔伊兹市是政府控制的城市，本月初曾被胡塞武装围困。塔伊兹省位于红海沿岸，地势平坦，包括港口城市摩卡和曼德海峡。该省大部分地区位于也门高原，而首府塔伊兹则坐落在群山环抱之中。

半岛电视台记者马乌里表示，该地区战事如此激烈的原因在于其战略价值。“谁控制了海拔，谁就控制了山脉，谁就控制了地形。他们就控制了红海沿岸，甚至控制了塔伊兹市，”他说。

国际公认的也门政府一直呼吁沙特向胡塞武装增派更多兵力，并要求沙特对胡塞武装最近占领的阵地进行空袭，这些阵地主要位于塔伊兹以南的米斯拉赫区和通往塔伊兹市的门户图尔巴区。

马乌里报道称，虽然沙特领导的联军的空袭迫使胡塞武装撤退，使政府军得以推进，但他们尚未能完全控制其中一些阵地。

“随后，安萨尔真主组织会发起另一次反军事攻势，试图夺回该地区。自9月初以来，我们一直看到这种情况反复发生，”他说。

胡塞武装对塔伊兹的围攻已造成平民伤亡，并导致燃料、天然气和其他物资严重短缺。联合国世界粮食计划署（粮食署）周三报告称，小麦面粉库存已接近耗尽。

红十字会表示，包括马里卜、塔伊兹和也门红海沿岸地区在内的前线医院正在登记前所未有的武器伤员人数，一些医院一周内收治的伤员超过 700 人。