A Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said a broad air campaign involving 100 jet aircraft was under way on Monday against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coastline and farther north in the capital, Sana'a.
Operation Dawn of Yemen
The coalition spokesperson, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, said the 100 fighter jets participating in Operation Dawn of Yemen were providing support to forces of Yemen's internationally recognised government.
He said the coalition had secured "air protection" of the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait and destroyed hundreds of Houthi targets. He claimed hundreds of Houthi fighters had been besieged in the Dhubab district, including the airport, close to the strait, with some fleeing across the Red Sea in boats.
Ground offensive and gains
Southern Yemen forces known as the Giants Brigades, allied with the government, launched a ground offensive on Monday against the rebels on the eastern flank of coastal areas the Houthis seized in recent advances. The government forces also claim to have cut the road between Mocha and Dhubab, and that Houthi forces were deserting Mocha as residents stayed behind closed doors.
Previous Saudi-led statements about territorial gains have often proved partial, but footage appeared to back up claims of Houthis retreating by the seashore.
The president of the Saudi-backed government, Rashad al-Alimi, promised a new offensive on Sunday, saying patience with the Houthis had run out. "Today we are embarking on a decisive phase in the history of our nation," he said.
Strikes and Houthi response
Airstrikes were also reported on Monday in Sana'a and the Houthi stronghold of Saada in the north. Command and control centres, camps and weapons depots were targeted.
The Houthis, who captured Sana'a in 2014, have in recent weeks made advances down the west coast, reaching the Bab al-Mandab and seizing strategic islands on the strait. On Monday, Houthi sources denied reports of a retreat and pointed to explosions at a Saudi Aramco plant in Riyadh as a sign of the damage the group could still inflict on exposed Saudi oil installations.
Political and regional context
A political agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates appeared to permit the UAE-backed Southern Giants to coordinate with the Saudi air force in the attack towards the coast. The Giants Brigades stressed that no other ground forces supporting the Saudi-backed government are involved in the offensive.
The Brigades, linked with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a political group outlawed in Yemen for trying to set up a secessionist state, are certain to have sought political commitments about the future status of Yemen. It is not clear how the Saudis propose to address the southern question.
The cooperation between the Saudi air force and the Giants Brigades is a turnaround, since in January the Saudi air force was bombing UAE shipments of arms arriving in Southern Yemen for STC-backed forces. That bombing triggered the UAE pullout from Yemen in January, the dissolution of the STC, and the exile of its leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi. At the weekend, his supporters vowed to hold demonstrations later this month in support of a separate southern state.
Houthi government officials claimed British fighter jets were supporting the Saudi air force with refuelling, something the UK Ministry of Defence has already announced. The fighting was under way as senior ministers from Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia met in Riyadh to discuss support Saudi Arabia might need to protect itself from the Houthis. They have formed a joint defence pact, but it is not known how it will operate.
