Yemen's internationally recognised government launched a concentrated 24-hour air and ground offensive across five locations in the southwestern governorate of Taiz on Sunday, claiming dozens of Houthi fighters killed or wounded. The operations targeted weapons depots, ammunition sites, and Houthi gatherings from the al-Waziiya district in the west to Hayfan in the south. Government forces say they captured Jabal Bazel, a mountaintop that puts Houthi supply lines within targeting range. Al Jazeera could not verify the battlefield claims. The offensive is a direct response to dramatic Houthi territorial gains in recent weeks, including the seizure of the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha and expanded control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait — the maritime chokepoint connecting Europe to Asia. Presidential Leadership Council head Rashad al-Alimi has called for general mobilisation, urging citizens to enlist and offering amnesty to Houthi defectors. He expressed confidence government forces could restore control over the whole country, though the Houthis currently hold vast swaths of northern and western Yemen while the government controls the south and east. The regional geometry is escalating fast. Saudi Arabia, which backs the government and has faced Houthi ballistic missiles and drones targeting Riyadh and Khamis Mushait, is pulling allies into its orbit. Military chiefs from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkiye jointly reviewed threats at a meeting in Riyadh. Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman cited the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement with Pakistan. France confirmed it is sending troops to guard the Yanbu oil terminal — a Red Sea port connected to the East-West Pipeline capable of carrying up to seven million barrels per day — while insisting it is not joining the conflict. The Strait of Hormuz backdrop makes this more than a Yemeni civil war. Tehran has effectively closed Hormuz since the US and Israel began military operations against Iran in February. Before that conflict, a fifth of the world's oil passed through the waterway. Saudi Arabia had been using Bab al-Mandeb as an alternative shipping route — the Houthis' seizure of Mocha and their threats against Saudi tankers in that strait now jeopardise the backup plan. Iran delivered a ceasefire offer on Friday covering Yemen and Lebanon, including an offer to reopen Hormuz in exchange for lifting Washington's naval blockade, a sanctions waiver, and release of frozen assets. Trump rejected it. Iran denies involvement in Yemen. President Masoud Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera the Houthis act independently, urged dialogue between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, and offered mediation. The GCC secretary-general condemned Houthi attacks as a "flagrant violation" of Saudi sovereignty. Yemen's vice president warned at the UN General Assembly that the Houthis were using shipping security "as a tool for blackmail" and "taking hostage the entire global economy." Government forces accused the Houthis of deploying Iranian air defence weapons with heat-tracking systems that cannot distinguish between military and civilian targets, calling them a threat to international flight paths over the Red Sea. The Saudi-led coalition intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones early Saturday. The US has not pledged military involvement, though CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on September 14 following the fall of Mocha. The humanitarian toll is staggering and accelerating. About 130,000 people have been displaced in three weeks, mostly from Taiz governorate. More than 3,000 fled across the Red Sea to Djibouti. UNICEF verified at least 15 children killed and 14 injured since early September. The broader numbers dwarf the immediate crisis: 22 million Yemenis require humanitarian assistance, 18.3 million face acute food insecurity, and more than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished. The death toll from the current fighting runs into the hundreds, though rival claims make verification impossible.
