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Yemeni forces are planning a ground offensive against the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in an attempt to take advantage of the ongoing U.S. operation against the Iran-backed group, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on April 14.
U.S. and Yemen officials told the newspaper that the forces are sensing an opportunity to oust the Houthis from some parts of the Red Sea coast, adding that United Arab Emirates (UAE), which supports these forces, raised the plan with American officials in recent weeks,
Private American security contractors provided advice to the Yemeni forces on a potential ground offensive, the newspaper quoted people involved in the planning as saying.
The U.S. is open to supporting such an offensive, the U.S. officials said, while noting that a decision on whether to back the effort hasn’t been made yet.
The officials added that the U.S. was not leading the talks for a ground offensive, and that the discussion involves empowering the local forces allied with the internationally recognized government in Yemen to take charge of the country’s security.
The U.S. military resumed strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on March 15 on orders from President Donald Trump, who said that the large-scale operation was launched in response to the group’s renewed attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
So far, the operation has claimed the lives of 123 people and left some 247 others wounded. However, the Houthis continue to launch attacks against Israel and the Red Sea remains for the most part closed for commercial shipping.
Yemeni officials told WSJ that the plan in discussion would see Yemeni forces launching an attack from the south of the country to capture the Red Sea port city of al-Hodeidah from the Houthis.
In 2017, Yemeni forces d launched a similar offensive to capture al-Hodeidah with direct support from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. After initial success, the forces met fierce resistance from the Houthis and were forced to withdraw and accept a ceasefire agreement.
According to WSJ, officials from Saudi Arabia had privately told American and Yemeni officials they won’t join or help a ground offensive in Yemen again, fearing that the Houthis could launch a new wave of missile and drone attacks against the kingdom.
The Houthis are apparently aware of the planned offensive. Last week, A senior official of the group warned of such a move.
“The enemy’s options in Yemen have failed. Neither bombing nor American aggression will stop supporting Gaza,” wrote Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Yemeni Supreme Political Council, in a post on the X social network.
Al-Houthi went on to stress that “no ground military operation will succeed. It will face hell and the power of the righteous.”
He also pointed out that it would be mistaken to test the already tested Yemenis, referring to the failure of the Saudi-led Arab coalition’s operation against the Houthis.
“America must know that its continued aggression is a continuation of the erosion of deterrence and exhaustion, and it will lose any future battle,” he added.
The U.S., which recently dispatched a second aircraft carrier to support the operation against the Houthis, appears to be committed to the fight against the group. However, it is still unclear how much the administration of President Donlad Trump is willing to get involved in a risky ground offensive.
Any such offensive, backed by the U.S. or not, will likely reignite the war in Yemen which largely came to a halt following a ceasefire brokered in 2022. Even if Saudi Arabia refrained from taking part in the planned offensive, the kingdom could find itself dragged back to the war.
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“private american security contractors provided advice to the yemeni forces on a potential ground offensive”. the same american contractors that failed miserably in ukraine?
the british are real sore losers in yemen. they just cannot let it go, they were kicked out of their major outpost there during the colonial era. americans and brits just never learn. they are dumber than a box of rocks
did they not try this already? yemeni government had full backing of house of saud, gulf states, and the nato before. and did not work out too well
yemen lost it’s installed dictator .
iran need come and help houthis
and more vicious than a honey badger.
stupidity and viciousness go hand in hand with a lot of these anglo types.
or iraq, or afghanistan, or somalia, or libya, or…..
those yemenis are idiots to take advice from a private american security contractor.
i remember when the houthis showed a photo of abdullah saleh with a gaping hole in his stupid head. it was a good reminder what happens to pro western faggots
israel is now renaming it self as yemeni ? the wsj should just rename as the daily hasbara
remember israel funding created hamas
what’s the point of cutting all the tentacles of iran’s axis of resistance if trumpy is going to cave into iran’s demand to keep its enriching of uranium and its missile and space programs.
okay. it is then time for marib to be liberated by yemeni forces, that msm addresses as “hutis”. un was to defend thise zionistic murderers from uae, saudia, and all other tentacles of evil in yemen.
when was about time for yemen to liberate strategically important marib, they said it will be humanitarian disaster, but no words now nor they have had in situation in hudida, where yemenis defended that city from all zio wahhabi ecils.
us will deliver the weapons for this attack and iranian are not in yemen, they left houtis about 2 weeks ago and went back to iran.
i really hope the houthis absolutely fuck up anyone coming for them
i hope too but i dont think they can if usa airstrike continue
get all the people out of gaza and keep pounding the crap out of the houthis. dumb bombs will do just fine and cost less.
houthi the braves of the brave.
hisbollah, hamas and others should take them as an heroic exemple.
bahahaha what a clown! getting us involved in ground war in yeman, this will only unite houthies more. americans love getting their asses kicked by army in sandles..
all empires end . some more quickly than others
so yemen is going to attack yemen per the wsj ? bullshit !
don’t you just love the censorship on this site.
some of it’s unbelievable. when you use mainstream language and bingo ! back to square one and you wonder . . . . . why ? maybe some of them are blocking others ? thin skinned, sensitive types.
the site’s not worth spending much time on anyway. burgerland funnies are worth it. 😒
bingo!!!!!!!
the oil countries do not really include yemen yet the houthis are primarily supported by the people in the us who don’t want the us to continue with these masochistic wars, these forever wars, these petulant plutocratic wars. our way of support is to get rid of the idf biden should have sent the rangers to assassinate the idf leadership 3 years ago due to the nature of genocide against palestine children.
o plano não vai funcionar.