Yemen erupts as government forces vow to retake Sanaa The forgotten war suddenly gets very interestingYemen is back on the Middle East battlefield — and this time the government is talking about taking the capital back. Forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognised government have launched a counteroffensive against the Iran-backed Houthis, with officials declaring that Sanaa must be retaken. The fighting has intensified across several provinces, while the Houthis have simultaneously launched attacks into neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Suddenly, the war that much of the outside world had stopped watching is looking considerably more dangerous. Sanaa is the prizeThe Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, triggering the Saudi-led intervention the following year and years of devastating civil war. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted the big ground battles. But that fragile calm has now broken down. Government forces say they are advancing on several fronts, including al-Jawf, al-Bayda, Taiz and Hodeidah, while fighting has intensified around routes leading towards the capital. Al-Jawf is particularly important because it borders Saudi Arabia and provides a route towards the Houthi heartland. Al-Bayda is equally significant because of its position at the centre of Yemen. This is no longer just scattered fighting. The map is changing. The Houthis are fighting backThe Houthis, who control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, have rejected the government's claims of battlefield success and say they have repelled attacks in several areas. They have also accused Saudi Arabia of airstrikes inside Yemen. Both sides are claiming victories and casualties, and some battlefield claims cannot be independently verified. But the sheer geographical spread of the fighting is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. The World Health Organization says nearly 900 people have been killed or wounded since Thursday, with thousands displaced from Taiz alone. Then Saudi Arabia gets dragged inAnd here is where Yemen becomes a much bigger story. Saudi authorities say Houthi attacks on the kingdom have wounded 73 civilians, including women and children. The attacks targeted areas including Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, with fires reported at energy facilities and other economic infrastructure. Saudi Arabia has vowed to respond. That matters enormously. Saudi Arabia is not just Yemen's neighbour. It is one of the world's biggest oil exporters — and the latest attacks come while the wider Middle East is already dealing with enormous disruption to energy supplies and shipping. Yemen sits beside another giant problemThe geography makes the situation even more uncomfortable. To Yemen's west lies the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, one of the world's most important shipping chokepoints. To the north is Saudi Arabia. And beyond the Red Sea lies the wider Middle East confrontation involving Iran and its allies. The Houthis have already threatened shipping and Saudi interests. Now they are fighting a renewed ground war against Saudi-backed Yemeni forces while striking targets inside Saudi Arabia. That creates the possibility of two wars feeding into each other. Iran's shadow hangs over everythingThe Houthis are closely aligned with Iran, although Yemen's war is not simply a case of Tehran giving orders to a puppet army. The movement has its own interests, its own military structure and its own agenda. But there is no escaping the regional connection. Iran is already locked into a major confrontation with the United States and Israel. The Houthis are now escalating against Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia is backing the forces trying to push the Houthis out of Sanaa. That is an explosive combination. Could Sanaa really fall?This is the enormous question. Government forces saying “we will retake Sanaa” is one thing. Actually taking the capital from the Houthis is something else entirely. The Houthis have controlled Sanaa for more than a decade and remain deeply entrenched in the north. Previous attempts to defeat them produced years of warfare without resolving the conflict. So nobody should assume that a government counteroffensive automatically means Sanaa is about to fall. But something has clearly changed. The war is no longer sitting quietly behind a fragile truce. It is moving again. And the rest of the world may soon noticeFor years Yemen has been one of those wars that produced terrible headlines but struggled to maintain international attention. That could be about to change. If the fighting continues to spread, Saudi Arabia retaliates heavily and the Houthis intensify attacks on shipping or energy infrastructure, Yemen could become another major front in the already expanding Middle East crisis. And this time the consequences would not stop at Yemen's borders. They could hit Saudi oil, Red Sea shipping, global energy prices and the wider confrontation with Iran. The war nobody should ignoreYemen has been through this before. A civil war that seemed impossible to end. A truce that never became a settlement. A capital divided from much of the country. And millions of civilians caught in the middle. But the latest escalation is different because of what is happening around Yemen at the same time. Government forces want Sanaa back. The Houthis are fighting to hold their territory. Saudi Arabia is being attacked. The Red Sea remains strategically vital. And Iran is already at the centre of a much wider regional confrontation. Yemen may have been yesterday's forgotten war. It could become tomorrow's new front. And that is why this one is worth watching very closely. Original Content — Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters and AP.
