Yemeni government launches offensive to seize all areas from Iran-backed Houthis

Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government said on Sunday it was launching a major military campaign to recapture all areas of the country controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis .

The government’s armed forces would press the offensive “until the country is liberated from the grip of the terrorist militia,” Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi said in a televised address. A military spokesman later called on the Houthis to lay down their weapons.

The Houthis, known formally as Ansar Allah, have held Yemen’s capital Sanaa and vast parts of the northwest, where most of the population live, since 2014. They have so far withstood a series of attacks over the years by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their Western allies, and have updated their weaponry with the help of Iran.

The movement launched a surprise offensive last month which captured the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait and some 90 miles of coast on the Red Sea in a matter of weeks, giving the Houthis new leverage over the international shipping route.

That advance also opened a new front in the wider U.S.-Israeli war launched in February against Iran, to which Tehran’s responses included choking oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, to the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

As the Yemeni government, known as the Presidential Leadership Council, made its announcement, the Houthis said they had launched ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and the Khurais area of Saudi Arabia.

They claimed the attacks caused major fires and were in response to what they said were 50 Saudi-led air and missile strikes in Yemen in the past 12 hours.

There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia.

Alimi said the decision to launch the counteroffensive came after all chances of de-escalating the conflict had been exhausted.

He thanked Saudi Arabia for its support and called on Yemen’s regional allies and international partners to support PLC forces and institutions.

Regional and Western officials told Reuters earlier this week that Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies were planning to launch an assault on the Houthis, with the Saudis leading aerial combat and Yemeni forces fighting on the ground.

The U.S. is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, while some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations told Reuters.

Houthi supporters rally to celebrate advances by Houthi forces along the Red Sea coastline in Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 18, 2026. (Adel Al Khader/Reuters)

The United States’ war on Iran has decimated a layer of Iranian military and political leadership, but has also entangled Washington in a new engagement in the Middle East and depleted crucial military hardware.

Yemen has been mired in conflict for years, with an array of local armed groups and factions backed by competing regional and international actors.

After a popular uprising that was part of the Arab Spring movements in 2011, the Houthis, an armed group of Zaidi Shi’ite Muslims, captured Sanaa.

The Saudi-backed PLC, which is also recognized by the United Nations, has, since the Houthi takeover, controlled the south and east of the country, based in the former South Yemen capital of Aden.

Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab coalition in support of the PLC, but failed to defeat the Houthis.

A truce agreed between the warring parties in 2022 largely held until this year, when the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi shipping and oil infrastructure in a spillover from the Iran war.

The Houthis have maintained the initiative on the ground since seizing control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in their lightning offensive last month that saw government forces collapse.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern exit passage of the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia that has assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

In the last 48 hours, the Houthis have also made gains against government and local forces on strategic hilltops near Yemen’s Taiz, military sources said, advancing on the last road between the city and Aden on the southern coast.

Houthi control over the Taiz-Aden road would lead to an effective siege of the city, Yemen’s third-largest, inhabited by hundreds of thousands of civilians and where thousands of government forces are also stationed.

The city is important not just for its strategic location; Alimi is from the region, and a siege of Taiz would amplify an already-dire humanitarian situation in the country.

Three in four ​families in parts of Yemen are going hungry from the impact of the surge in fighting, ‌which has displaced tens of thousands of people and disrupted supplies to millions, the World Food Programme said last week.

也门沙特支持、国际公认的政府周日表示，将发起一场大规模军事行动，以夺回所有被伊朗支持的胡塞武装控制的地区。

也门总统拉沙德·阿利米在电视讲话中表示，政府军将继续推进攻势，“直至国家摆脱恐怖民兵的控制”。随后，一名军方发言人呼吁胡塞武装放下武器。

胡塞武装（正式名称为安萨尔真主）自 2014 年以来一直控制着也门首都萨那和西北部大片地区，那里居住着也门的大部分人口。多年来，他们顶住了沙特阿拉伯、阿联酋及其西方盟友的一系列攻击，并在伊朗的帮助下更新了武器装备。

该组织上个月发动了一次出人意料的攻势，在短短几周内就占领了具有战略意义的曼德海峡和红海沿岸约 90 英里的海岸线，使胡塞武装对国际航运路线拥有了新的控制权。

这一进展也为美以于2月份对伊朗发动的更广泛的战争开辟了新的战线，德黑兰的回应包括封锁霍尔木兹海峡，切断通往阿拉伯半岛另一侧的石油运输。

在也门政府（即总统领导委员会）发表声明的同时，胡塞武装表示，他们已向沙特阿拉伯利雅得和胡赖斯地区的沙特阿美设施发射了弹道导弹和无人机。

他们声称这些袭击造成了重大火灾，是为了回应他们所说的过去 12 小时内由沙特阿拉伯领导的对也门发动的 50 次空袭和导弹袭击。

沙特阿拉伯方面尚未立即作出回应。

阿利米表示，发动反攻的决定是在所有缓和冲突的机会都已用尽之后做出的。

他感谢沙特阿拉伯的支持，并呼吁也门的地区盟友和国际伙伴支持也门人民解放阵线部队和机构。

本周早些时候，地区和西方官员告诉路透社，沙特阿拉伯及其也门盟友正计划对胡塞武装发动进攻，沙特将主导空中作战，也门军队将在地面作战。

六位了解沙特准备工作的人士告诉路透社，美国已经向利雅得提供情报以支持其在也门的行动，而一些地区和欧洲国家则主要向沙特提供防御性军事援助。

2026年9月18日，也门首都萨那，胡塞武装支持者集会庆祝胡塞武装在红海沿岸取得的进展。（Adel Al Khader/路透社）

美国对伊朗的战争摧毁了伊朗军事和政治领导层的很大一部分，但也使华盛顿卷入了中东的新纷争，并消耗了关键的军事装备。

也门多年来一直深陷冲突之中，众多地方武装团体和派系背后都有相互竞争的地区和国际势力支持。

在 2011 年阿拉伯之春运动的一部分——民众起义之后，由宰德派什叶派穆斯林组成的武装团体胡塞武装占领了萨那。

由沙特阿拉伯支持、并得到联合国承认的PLC，自胡塞武装接管政权以来，一直控制着该国的南部和东部地区，其总部设在南也门前首都亚丁。

2015年，沙特阿拉伯领导阿拉伯联盟介入也门内战，支持巴勒斯坦解放人民联盟，但未能击败胡塞武装。

2022 年交战双方达成的停火协议基本维持到今年，但胡塞武装在伊朗战争的余波中对沙特阿拉伯的航运和石油基础设施发动了导弹和无人机袭击。

自上个月发动闪电战夺取曼德海峡控制权以来，胡塞武装一直保持着地面上的主动权，这场攻势导致政府军溃败。

曼德海峡是红海的南出口，是地中海和亚洲之间的一条重要航运路线，今年作为霍尔木兹海峡的替代路线，其重要性更加凸显。

军事消息人士称，在过去 48 小时内，胡塞武装还在也门塔伊兹附近的战略山顶上对政府军和地方部队取得了进展，并沿着连接该市和南部海岸亚丁的最后一条道路推进。

胡塞武装控制塔伊兹至亚丁公路将导致对也门第三大城市塔伊兹的有效围困，该市居住着数十万平民，并且驻扎着数千名政府军。

这座城市的重要性不仅在于其战略位置；阿利米就来自该地区，围攻塔伊兹将加剧该国本已严峻的人道主义局势。

世界粮食计划署上周表示，也门部分地区四分之三的家庭因战乱加剧而挨饿，这场战乱导致数万人流离失所，并扰乱了数百万人的物资供应。