Illustrative image. (U.S. Air Force photo by William R. Lewis)
Saudi Arabia is preparing a large-scale offensive against the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen that could involve more than 100,000 Yemeni troops and seek to retake the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Reuters reported on October 2, citing regional and Western officials familiar with the preparations.
The operation could begin in the coming weeks and would be carried out primarily by Yemeni government forces overseen by Riyadh, with Saudi air support, according to six people familiar with the plans.
Saudi officials are considering either a concentrated assault around Bab el-Mandeb or a wider campaign involving simultaneous attacks in Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf.
The planned offensive would aim to reverse the Houthis’ gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and restore control over Bab el-Mandeb, which links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and is a major shipping route between Asia and the Mediterranean. The strait has taken on greater importance as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed during the conflict with Iran, Reuters reported.
The timing has not been settled. Sources cited by Reuters gave possible dates ranging from within a week to a period after the United States midterm elections in early November.
Saudi and Western officials told the news agency that Riyadh does not consider renewed peace talks with the Houthis viable while the group retains control of Bab el-Mandeb.
The U.S. is providing military advisers and intelligence, including targeting information, to support Saudi air operations, according to a Western diplomat cited by Reuters. Direct U.S. combat involvement is not expected, however.
Turkey and Pakistan have also supplied military equipment for Saudi operations in Yemen. Pakistan sent four cargo aircraft to Aden last month carrying air defense systems, light artillery, drones and counter-drone equipment, according to a Pakistani official.
Pakistani military advisers are operating alongside Saudi counterparts, while Turkish drones previously purchased by Riyadh have been deployed over Yemen.
Saudi Arabia is also seeking to protect its oil infrastructure and other strategic sites from Houthi missile and drone attacks.
Pakistan has deployed between 30,000 and 40,000 troops to Saudi Arabia for border protection and assistance with missile and drone interceptions, although Islamabad has not decided to send those forces into Yemen for combat, a Pakistani official told Reuters.
Any ground campaign would rely heavily on Yemeni factions backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates during earlier stages of the civil war. Divisions among those forces remain a significant factor as Riyadh considers a broader offensive.
An offensive of such scale would put some serious pressure on the Houthis. However, the group faced such pressure in the past and prevailed. In addition, Saudi Arabia could face a major response, not just from the group, but also from its allies, including Iran and Shia armed factions in Iraq. Such a move could even ignite a regional conflict.
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i’m sure they have a 100 000 soldiers hiding somewhere in their asses and they are ready to pull them out at any moment, lmao! xd
it will be like in ukraine: “voluntary mercenaries” with military badges of us-, israel-, nato-armies will be deployed under false flag. only few days after “nuttensohn jahoo” went secretly to uae.
100,000 mercenaries labeled as yemeni troops pretending to represent saudi arabia. all to stop ansar allah from liberating yemen removing colonialist globalist pirates from the region? free yemen, iran, iraq and palestine !
free europe, free usa…. zionists out !
good luck to saudis with the most incompetents soldiers in the world – the pakistanis who can’t beat a group of 5000 poorly armed balochis and few thousand armed pashtuns 😅😆how are they gonna beat houthis?
time to stomp some houthi skulls
ok joo, you go first and see how long before your underwear looks like a dark chocolate milk-shake.
it hasn’t hit puberty yet, whenever that is for inbreds.
only in saudi propaganda.
100k saudi chimps and monkeys….????? are they going to open up the zoos? nutty yoyo is digging his own grave while the wily persians are fitting out his casket.
😂😂😂😂😂
someone once labelled pakistain troops as “a lot of poor soldiers in dirty uniforms”, let’s see how the c i a owned pakistain government falls on its face. asim munir magic!! 😂😂
that was u.s. president richard nixon.
south yemini forces will on past form will not be much good, even with saudi air support, as saudi pilots have shown they aren’t that good either, either way it’ll get messy, and the houthis’ may get even more kit and ammunition if the yemini force retreats.
i imagine many nations are very interested in this civil war. some governments who act in silence now might appear suddenly. the world has use for the regions energy wealth and how it is distributed. will legacy colonialist pirates ever be replaced ?
so their plan is to use the troops that kept running away and were ineffective, and are currently being actively defeated and destroyed, to win the war. a great plan
i dont believe they are stupid enough to believe the disunited yemeni troops who have kept loosing or running away from the huthis will do much. so there must be some other plan behind this.
will al sharahs al quiada send his militias or will some majoer militery like turkey or pakistan send theire soldier under yemeni flag?
saudi only designed to be sodomized by joo peniz