Yemeni PM says recent Houthi advances do not decide course of war

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - ADEN — Yemeni Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zindani said Saturday that the difficult developments on the ground in recent days “do not mean the end of the confrontation or that its course has been decided,” as fighting with the Houthis reshaped areas of control across several provinces.

“Battles are not measured by the outcome of a single day or a change in position, but by the state’s ability to regain the initiative,” Al-Zindani said during a Cabinet meeting in the interim capital, Aden, according to Yemen’s state-run Saba news agency.

The Cabinet reviewed military operations and combat readiness, as well as the humanitarian situation resulting from the Houthi escalation and displacement and government measures aimed at mitigating its impact on civilians.

Al-Zindani sought to reassure Yemenis across the country, saying the government was placing their security and safety at the top of its priorities.

“The current escalation, despite its seriousness, will not disrupt the work of the state or create a vacuum that the Houthi militia and those behind it can exploit,” he said.

His remarks came after significant shifts in the map of control in recent days. The Houthis said they had seized several districts in the western coastal provinces of Hodeidah and Taiz, as well as Red Sea islands, including Mayyun Island in the strategic Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

Government forces, meanwhile, reported advances in Al-Jawf province along the Saudi border and said they were approaching Al-Hazm, the provincial capital.

They also reported retaliatory airstrikes against Houthi targets in and around Mocha and in areas of Taiz, Lahij and Al-Dhalea provinces, saying the strikes targeted large concentrations of fighters and destroyed military vehicles and weapons. Government forces also said they had repelled a major Houthi attack on Marib.

Yemen had experienced a period of relative calm since a UN-brokered truce took effect in April 2022, following years of war between the internationally recognized government and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who seized Sanaa and large parts of the country in 2014.

Since late 2023, the Houthis have expanded their involvement in regional hostilities, launching attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea following the outbreak of the Gaza war.