Between October 21 and 22, the Houthis launched a large-scale offensive around the area of “Kilo 16” south of the strategic city of al-Hudaydah on the western coast of Yemen. The al-Masirah TV said that Houthi fighters captured several positions south of Kilo 16 and cut off the main highway between al-Hudaydah and the Yemeni capital of Sanaa during the surprise offensive.
“Over the last two days, the [Yemeni] army and the popular committees [armed wing of the Houthis] succeeded in recapturing important areas south of the area of Kilo 16 near al-Hudaydah [after] infecting significant loss in lives and equipment on the agents of the aggression,” a field commander of the Houthis told al-Masirah on October 23.
The Houthis media wing released a 29-minute video of the fierce offensive showing Houthi fighters shelling Saudi-led coalition positions with rockets, carrying out night raids and destroying scores of military vehicles with different anti-tank weapons.
In September, the Saudi-led coalition carried out an attack on Kilo 16 that lasted for several days. While the coalition managed to capture some key position there, its loses were significant enough to halt the attack. Since then, the Houthis drained coalition troops in the area by conducting limited hit and run attacks.
The new offensive by the Houthis is for sure a strong message to the Saudi-led coalition, that’s currently planning to resume its military operations around Kilo 16 with a declared aim of capturing al-Hudaydah and its port.
