How significant are Yemen’s government forces’ gains against the Houthis?

Yemen’s internationally recognised government says its forces have retaken strategically located territory from the Houthis, but the battlefield gains have not yet changed the fundamental balance of the war.

Government forces said on Saturday that they had captured Hais district in Hodeidah province and advanced around the al-Barh junction in western Taiz. Hais sits where Hodeidah, Taiz and Ibb provinces meet. The Houthi movement had not commented on the claim.

A Yemeni Information Ministry official, Fayad al-Numan, said government forces also captured dozens of Houthi fighters during clashes in al-Jarahi district in southern Hodeidah. In Taiz, fighting killed more than 60 people, including civilians, the AFP news agency reported.

The Houthis continue to control the capital, Sanaa, along with several other cities. They have also recently advanced around Taiz, seeking to threaten the government-held port of al-Makha, or Mocha, and move toward territory bordering the Bab al-Mandeb, the strategic passage linking the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea.

The latest escalation has drawn in Saudi Arabia, a key supporter of Yemen’s government. Riyadh has carried out air strikes against positions recently captured by the Houthis as fighting increasingly centers on territory leading toward the major shipping route. The United Nations humanitarian office said about 1,800 families were displaced over two days as the fighting intensified.