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The Houthis (Ansar Allah) made significant gains in the northern Yemeni province of al-Jawf along the border with Saudi Arabia after launching a surprise large-scale attack, the Sputnik news agency reported on December 18.
A Yemeni military source told Sputnik that Houthi fighters had captured most of the area of al-Yatimah in the district of Khabb wa al-Sha’af from Saudi-backed forces, including the local market and all surrounding hilltops.
According to the unnamed source, the Houthis were able advance in al-Yatimah after capturing two key mountain chains, Qashan and Habash.
#Yemen: [13/12/2021]#Jawf: #Ansarallah took control over northern part of Jabal Ḩabash, Afī & Jabal Qashan.
Map: [ https://t.co/MHPQJwITep ] pic.twitter.com/iz3A1GUpEM— @Suriyak (@Suriyakmaps) December 13, 2021
#Yemen:#Jawf: #Ansarallah took control over Haḑbat Āl Ju‘ayd & Yām area.
Map: [ https://t.co/X11Kne3Lhf ] pic.twitter.com/QKTsx75LLx— @Suriyak (@Suriyakmaps) December 18, 2021
The Houthis’ push in al-Jawf will mount more pressure on the Saudi-led coalition and its proxies, who are already struggling to stop the group’s advance in the central province of Ma’rib and the southwestern province of Taiz.
The coalition is already bombing Houthi forces in al-Jawf on the hopes of halting, or at least slowing down their advance towards the border of Saudi Arabia.
To this day, the Houthis maintain a strong presence on the border with Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition and its proxies made numerous attempts to push the group away from the border line in the past six year. However, they were all a failure.
