Yemeni forces launch offensive to retake Houthi-held al-Waziiya in Taiz

The mountainous district is key to control of Mocha, the Red Sea port the Houthis seized last month.Forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government have launched an operation to capture a strategic mountainous district from the Houthis as part of a wider push to retake the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.The offensive on the district of al-Waziiya in Taiz governorate on Tuesday came as Saudi Arabia, which backs Yemen’s government, intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile targeting the city of Khamis Mushait.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Pakistan, Turkiye join Saudi deterrence against Houthis: What that meanslist 2 of 3Saudi Arabia says East-West pipeline pumping 5.8 million bpdlist 3 of 3Yemen’s government is on the attack against the Houthis. What has changed?end of listThe operation is part of the “Yemen" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="214074" data-entity-type="event">Dawn of Yemen” offensive that was announced on Sunday by Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, to retake all remaining Houthi-held territory, including the capital, Sanaa, which the Iran-backed group has controlled since 2014.The media centre of Yemen’s army said in a post on X that the Homeland Shield Forces, a pro-government military faction, have begun “a large-scale operation” to retake al-Waziiya.“The armed forces have secured strategic hills overlooking the al-Mansoura area, amidst a mass retreat by the Houthi militia,” it said, citing a military source.The Houthis, however, denied the claim, saying they had successfully repelled the Yemeni government advance in al-Waziiya.The mountainous district is located west of Taiz, east of the Red Sea port of Mocha. The Houthis had seized Mocha and areas around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait – a strategic maritime corridor – in a lightning offensive last month.“These are the mountains that the Houthis took control of prior to the takeover of the city of Mocha,” Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry said, reporting from Sanaa.