Houthi Offensive Planned for Yemen's West Coast with Foreign Support

The Houthi militia is reportedly preparing a multi-pronged offensive targeting Yemen's western coast, aiming to regain lost territory and counter recent setbacks in the West Coast and Taiz fronts. This intelligence, obtained by Sheba Intelligence from a field source in Hodeidah Governorate, suggests the plan involves significant support from Iranian, Lebanese, and Iraqi experts in planning, logistics, and operational guidance. The anticipated attack is expected to combine ground maneuvers with the use of drones, ballistic missiles, and short-range rockets.

These preparations follow a recent Houthi assault on the Al-Wazi'iyah area in western Taiz, an attempt to advance closer to the Dhubab region overlooking a crucial corridor leading to the Bab al-Mandab strait. According to the source, airstrikes and reinforcements from government and joint forces successfully repelled this attack and contained the Houthi units involved.

The new plan aims to alleviate pressure on Houthi forces and open a new offensive axis from southern Hodeidah, with a particular focus on the city of Hays and linking operations there with the Maqbanah front in Taiz Governorate. Preparations reportedly include attacks from the Jabal Ras and Wadi Al-Mirir areas towards Hays and combat zones in Taiz, with attackers expected to deploy successive waves of fighters to exhaust government defenses and breach their lines.

Al-Khawkhah, located southwest of Hays, is also identified as a potential target due to its proximity to current battlefronts and its strategic importance for any Houthi movement along the coast. In the Tuhayta sector, the plan involves an outflanking maneuver against areas advanced into by government and joint forces, potentially threatening their supply routes.

Simultaneously, the Al-Jubailiyah, Al-Fazah, and Al-Jah fronts are expected to be utilized for concurrent clashes and missile and drone attacks, intended to disperse government forces and prevent them from dispatching reinforcements to the main offensive axes. The operational concept relies on fighter density and coordinated attacks supported by missile and drone capabilities. The effectiveness of counter-air operations is considered a decisive factor in the Houthi militia's ability to achieve and sustain battlefield gains.

The intelligence suggests the plan serves dual objectives: to contain military pressures faced by the Houthi militia on the west coast and in Taiz, and to create conditions for resuming advances toward the Bab al-Mandab, the strategic maritime passage separating Yemen from Djibouti and Eritrea. Sheba Intelligence has not independently verified this information, and the potential timing or scale of the Houthi forces involved remains unclear.