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On August 15, the Houthis repelled the Saudi-led coalition’s attack on the district center of al-Durayhimi located on the western coast of Yemen after 72 hours of heavy clashes, according to the Yemeni al-Masirah TV.
A source in the Defense Ministry of Yemen [loyal to the Houthis] told al-Masirah that Houthi fighters killed 180 Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters and injured 136 others during the clashes in al-Durayhimi. The Houthis’ battle tank hunters also destroyed 20 vehicles of the Saudi-led coalition, including several US-made Oshkosh Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicles, according to the source.
The Saudi-led coalition and its Yemeni proxies launched a surprise attack on al-Durayhimi on August 12. A day later, the coalition claimed that its forces captured large parts of the district center.
The failure of this attack will not likely discourage the Saudi-led coalition, which is determined to reach the coastal city of al-Hudaydah north of al-Durayhimi. The city’s port is the main target of the coalition as it is considered the last supply rout of the Houthis.
Keep up the good work Houthis!
The Houthis have certainly earned the direct support from all those who oppose the de facto Zionist regimes of Saudi Arabia and her partners in crimes against humanity.
I’m under the impression that there’s zionist propaganda at work that will show us how their struggle will be useless in the end. but let’s wait and see.
I suspect you are correct John.
Mind you, the Zionist propaganda is just that, propaganda and as the Houthis and their supporters care little for what the Zionists say , plus the facts on the ground that see all the advanced NATO weapons in the hands of some of the richest states on earth struggling badly to do anything but murder civilians in Yemen as they cause the worst cholera outbreak for at least 100 years, it appears that it is only the propagandists who believe their own propaganda :)
The Houthi Lions will continue killing those who hunt them and their cubs.
They are on the peak of human bravery throughout known history. And why not. They are the followers of Imam Husain ibne Ali
hahahah amazing work houthis :)))
Why did Russia and China give a free hand to the US coalition in Yemen? Seems they did not learn from the Libyan fiasco. It seems that it is up to the Houthis and their allies to clean up Yemen.
Perhaps both want Saudi Arabia to switch sides, from Washington to Beijing-Moscow. Fighting for the Houthis would go against the interests of both Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Sort of, virtually all the Saudi money is in the US, and to a lesser extent the UK. If the Saudis upset the US, the US will seize(steal) their money, so they remain loyal to the USA. If the Saudis spend all their US dollars, the US no longer has a hold on KSA. The same applies to all the Gulf Sheikdoms.
Why did the US delay aiding the Soviet Union when Germany invaded? Why did the US ask the Soviets to hold back on the Soviet assault on Japan? Tactics old chum, tactics.
Wars are about money, and allowing the Saudis to burn money in Yemen is good for Russia and China.
Why is Iran always left of the list of nations that should help?
The geopolitical impact which Russia could make in Yemen isn’t anywhere close to the results their involvement in Syria is producing.
Hopefully, after Syria, Russia will keep going and bring more peace to the Middle East. I’d like to see a joint effort by Russia, Iran and China, along with Syria, Iraq and Turkey, to work against the zionist destabilisation of the region.
In a plan like this, Yemen would fit in rather nicely.
I always thought that the priority for RF was Ukraine first, so Syria was a mighty surprise. The new order would be Syria>Ukraine>Iran and then Yemen? The Yemen catastrophe is being conducted under UN resolutions, approved by RF and China, to restore the “legitimate” President of Yemen, who ran away to KSA. Gee, I wonder if RF can do the same with Yanukovych? He was the last President of ALL Ukraine while the FATSO is just a RUMP puppet President. Shouldn’t this happen the next time the Banderised Ukrainians shell the Donbass cities and declare RF the “aggressor state”?
I can’t imagine the Ukraine to be all too high on Russia’s list of priorities.
Crimea is a done deal. It will not change hands again anytime soon.
The DNR/LPR is only a minor inconvenience to the RF. The costs of supporting the Russians behind the border are relatively small and even if this problem suddenly disappeared over night, the US sanctions would still go on because of Crimea.
So for the moment, there’s little that can be done about that, besides cutting the Ukraine from the gas supply chain and let them simmer in their own juice. Northstream2 and Turkstream are about to accomplish this soon.
I would bet my money that Russia keeps moving in the ME, at the latest when Turkey is pried loose from NATO and the EU. My guess is that Turkey will be Putins next big milestone, possibly coinciding with the Syrian victory.
The Coalition leaders may not be deterred from trying to clear the West coast and taking Hodeidah (ain’t going to happen) but the troops and officers are a different story. It took almost two months to put together a sizeable force that was willing to fight only to see it fail miserably, just as all prior attempts have failed miserably.
Below is a step by step process of analyzing new info and synthesis with what is already known. I believe what happened in the first offensive can now be determined with high confidence – note we do not need any formal announcement by the Coalition or Houthis to determine the fate of the original Coaltion offensive force, which was clearly utterly destroyed.
The casualties reported in the article are of interest. The Houthis typically report modest Coalition casualty counts (unlike the Coalition inflated figures), but the casualties over a 3 day period in a single action are quite significant this time. To put in perspective, the oringinal coalition force for offensive operations early June were approximately 21,000. If the rate of loss continued for a month of fighting to take the Port, the losses would be 5,400 killed (25%) and 4,100 wounded (20%).
Such a high rate of losses would quickly bring any offensive to a halt and what happened in this belated second attempt is very likely a repeat of what happened in the first offensive on Hodeidah. I suspect the coalition forces partaking in the first offensive were, after 3 weeks of fighting, only a remant when they halted the offensive in late June and dug in south of the airport. Remnant? This is because supply problems were not an issue for this second offensive as opposed to the first offensive where forces were trying to take airport – so casualties for supply starved units would likely be significantly higher. This fits well with aid agencies in Hodeidah reporting gradual decline in intensity of fighting in direction of airport where by end of June, almost no sounds of battle. We now have a pretty clear picture of what happened in the first offensive and clearly it was disastrous for the Coalition.
Also unusual is that the figure for wounded is less then the figure for killed. I have some ideas why this may be the case but invite your thoughts on this.
Any guesses on when the war on Yemen will be over?
Not ready to guess yet. There are factors that seem to be prolonging this lost cause. One factor is the Crown Prince fears a coup if he admits defeat in Yemen. But the charade cannot go on much longer, particularly if the Houthis continue to bring the war into Saudi Arabia. I may even suspect the failed second Coalition offensive on the West coast was to divert Houthi forces as the Saudis fear major Houthi offensive into Saudi territory. Things ought to get really interesting.
Sadly, the KSA strategy sees this as a war of attrition that can be won by their treasure chest. To them its only money. Only a token number of Saudis are being killed. It’s their mercenaries who are bearing the brunt of the casualties. So I agree with you that Saudis will have to die before this war ends, probably with a palace coup.
I think you described the attitude perfectly when the Coalition formed in 2015. But with lower oil prices and a protracted costly war in Yemen, the costs are much higher than anticipated and coupled with reduced oil revenues, the treasury is not looking so good. If you search online on Saudi finances, you will find plenty of articles talking about these issues.
Throwing money at the citizenry has been classic tactic to keep the ‘rabble’ in line, but the Saudis do not have that luxury anymore and the Crown Prince made many powerful enemies when he arrested members of the Royal family. His enemies are waiting for a window of opportunity to take down Prince Salman and economic woes and defeat in Yemen could be the trigger.
As for attrition war, the Houthis are in a better position to weather despite the extreme hardship under blockade. The Coalition rely on mercenaries but a string of defeats under inept leadership is causing high rates of desertion and refusal to fight. The Houthis may take the battle well into Saudi Arabia – if this happens, a coup could take place and be justified as removing the incompetent Prince before the Kingdom is overrun.
re: “… the Saudis fear major Houthi offensive into Saudi territory.”
Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing to happen in the M.E. in the last fifty years. Way cool. Can’t wait to read about that!!!
100%. Straight sickest thing to happen in the middle east. Cooler than Hezbollah whooping the Israelis out in 2000 and 2006.
The Yemen war will end when the wars in Syria Ukraine and Myanmar end, that is when the USA collapses economically.
A very informative analysis. Thank you for the time in breaking it down and posting. I’m interested in reading more like this should you be a liberty to post them. Thank you.
Note, it is unusual that the figure for wounded is less then the figure for killed. Any ideas?
We have 2 kinds of figures for the coalition of terror’s wounded, killed or captured: A- Coalition on offensive: Moral is somehow better at first. Some get killed and others flee carrying the wounded and the dead, few surrender. Coalition hides the killed and wounded numbers.
B- Coalition on defensive: Moral is worse. A few get killed and many surrender, including the wounded. Coalition unable to hide the killed, wounded and surrendered numbers.
PS. Thanks for the analysis.
Very good analysis. I had some ideas but I like your take best. I agree morale is better at first but when they experience Houthi wrath the morale evaporates pretty quick as I have observed this many times in videos posted by the Houthis.
It is also worth noting that two soldiers needed to carry wounded off battle field and so depletes the numbers engaged in fighting which can be demoralizing and so units break and run. My guess is the offensive quickly turned into a rout and the Houthis positioned ATGM fighters to destroy retreating vehicles filled with troops causing high kill ratio.
Wonder how much longer they can muster up a force willing to fight given the nearly perfect track record to date of costly failures? For coalition fighters, they experience the ‘truth’ and no amount of Coalition propaganda is going to change that.
Very good analysis Garga! Yemeni revolution is a clear sign of emergence of The world’s Savior as Taqi Behjet said.
Cheap Cannon Fodder, burns well.
“The city’s port is the main target of the coalition as it is considered the last supply rout of the Houthis.”
Are they saying that:
– The Houthis have only one way to get supplies (presumably from Iran?), through a port city? – The Saudi navy is unable to blockade a single port, if it’s the only supply point?
This some BS.
Yes, exactly. Repeating the same BS. The blockade is preventing even humanitarian aid and this is widely reported by aid agencies.
Since the USSA and its racist supremacist Jewish slave masters are stepping up sanctions against Russia, Russia should give the Houthis many thousands of the 9M133 Kornet modern Russian man-portable anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) intended for use against main battle tanks. It worked very well against Israel by Hezbollah. The Houthis would crush Saudi with it and would be able to invade Saudi for some pay back for Saudi atrocities in Yemen.
Efficient death to ones enemies. I admire the houthis. They dont need russian advisors to fight effectively.
Scumbags fighting for wealth will never defeat people fighting for their homeland.
Mo’ ATGMs…..
Wow you guys are burning up the comments on this topic. Don’t think I noticed a single lame comment. So I won’t ruin it. Good Job Y’all !
Thanks… Mo’ ATGMs for them Houthis
I wonder about the economic profile of the typical mercenaries the KSA hire? Desperately poor perhaps, they can probably easily see themselves in the shoes of the civilians in Yemen. As they very well may have already experienced Empire “benevolence,” in their own homes as children. A clever way to wind up at the Houthi front armed and ready to switch sides?
Couldn’t help it, so inspired by all these great comments.