Yemeni Government Forces Push to Seize Strategic Mountain District as Fighting Escalates Across Taiz and Saudi Border

Yemeni government-aligned forces opened a new front on Tuesday in their widening campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi movement, launching a large-scale military operation aimed at wresting the mountainous district of al-Waziiya from Houthi control in the southwestern province of Taiz, according to statements from both sides.

The assault, announced by the media centre of Yemen's army in a post on X, involves the Homeland Shield Forces, a pro-government military faction that the army said had begun a major operation to reclaim the district. A military source cited by the army claimed that government units had secured strategic hilltops overlooking the al-Mansoura area while Houthi fighters were in what it described as a mass retreat.

The Houthis rejected that account, insisting their forces had successfully repelled the government advance in al-Waziiya and retained their positions in the rugged terrain. Such duelling claims are common in Yemen's prolonged conflict, where independent verification of battlefield developments is difficult and both sides routinely issue competing narratives within hours of an engagement.

The offensive forms part of the broader "Dawn of Yemen" operation unveiled on Sunday by Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council. Alimi has framed the campaign as an effort to recover all remaining Houthi-held territory, including the capital Sanaa, which the Houthis have governed since seizing it in 2014 and which remains the centrepiece of their administrative and military apparatus.

Al-Waziiya occupies ground of considerable tactical importance. The district lies west of Taiz city and east of Mocha, the Red Sea port that Houthi forces captured last month during a rapid offensive that also brought them control of areas surrounding the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most consequential maritime chokepoints.

Al Jazeera's Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, explained the strategic logic behind the government's latest push. He noted that the mountains of al-Waziiya were the positions Houthi fighters secured before they moved on Mocha, and argued that any serious attempt by the Yemeni government to retake the port city would first require control of that district. Without al-Waziiya, he suggested, a drive on Mocha would be untenable.

The operation unfolded alongside intensified cross-border hostilities. Saudi Arabia, which leads a military coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government, reported that its air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis toward the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.

Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, said the missile threat had originated from Houthi-controlled Sanaa as well as the governorates of Saada and Amran. He stated that the coalition would continue to neutralise the danger posed by ballistic and surface-to-surface missiles and to strike their launch sites, signalling that retaliatory air operations would persist.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation disclosed that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport in Jazan and Najran airport, both situated near the Yemeni border, had been struck in attacks that left three people wounded. The authority said the injuries were of varying severity, that material damage had been caused, and that the wounded had been transported to hospital for treatment.

Late on Monday, the Houthis said their forces had targeted multiple locations across southern Saudi Arabia, including airports and military installations, claiming responsibility for the cross-border strikes that Riyadh has characterised as attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The Saudi-led coalition has confirmed that it is taking part in the Yemeni government's offensive to recover all Houthi-held territory, stating that 100 of its fighter jets are furnishing air support for the ground campaign. That level of aerial commitment suggests Riyadh views the current phase of the war as an opportunity to roll back Houthi gains rather than simply contain them.

Regional involvement appears to be broadening. Pakistan and Turkiye have agreed to activate "deterrence measures" under their mutual defence arrangements with Saudi Arabia and to deploy forces rapidly to the kingdom to help counter Houthi attacks. Their participation would add new international dimensions to a conflict that has for years drawn in outside powers, further complicating prospects for de-escalation.

Taken together, the day's developments point to a conflict entering a more aggressive phase on multiple fronts simultaneously: a ground push in Taiz, missile exchanges across the Saudi-Yemeni border, strikes on Saudi airports, and the prospective arrival of additional foreign forces. For Yemen's government and its backers, the stated objective is the restoration of state authority over territory lost to the Houthis, including the capital.

For the Houthis, who have demonstrated resilience throughout more than a decade of war, the loss of al-Waziiya would threaten their hold on the Red Sea coastline and the approaches to Bab al-Mandeb, a waterway vital to global shipping. Control of that corridor has given the group leverage far beyond Yemen's borders, and both sides appear to understand that the outcome in these mountains could shape the wider balance of power in the country.