Houthis Push Toward Aden
Yemen's Houthis advanced to within about 50 miles of Aden, the government's temporary capital, their closest approach since 2015, threatening the main road to the besieged city of Taiz and positions above the Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane.
The old clock tower in Aden, Yemen, January 2026.Illustration by The Good Times, based on a photo by Hamoodbhran / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). The painting carries the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have pushed to within 80 kilometers, about 50 miles, of Aden, the main stronghold and temporary capital of Yemen's internationally recognized government, four military sources told Reuters. It is the closest they have come since the early months of the war in 2015, when they briefly entered the city. The Houthis took the mountainous Al-Maqatirah district in three days of fighting and were fighting government forces at a military camp at the entrance to Tur al-Bahah, one of the main approaches to Aden. The advance threatens the road linking Aden with Taiz, a city of about one million people, and could let the Houthis outflank government troops on the mountains above the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a major route for world shipping and for Saudi oil bound for Asia. Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck the Red Sea port of Ras Issa and an oil facility in Hodeidah province, and the Houthis said they hit Saudi airports. The government reshuffled its cabinet. The United Nations says nearly 300,000 people have been displaced since August.
The Houthis have taken the whole Al-Maqatirah district, which overlooks the road from Taiz to Aden, the military sources told Reuters. The Houthis began their assault on government positions there on October 30, the sources said. Government troops retreated toward Tur al-Bahah, where fighting was under way at a military camp about 50 kilometers from the provincial capital of Lahj and 80 kilometers from Aden.
The push follows an offensive that began in September, when the Houthis moved down Yemen's Red Sea coast and seized territory along the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The military sources said the new advance could let the Houthis outflank government forces on the mountain range above the strait. Government troops had driven Houthi fighters from that area only weeks earlier.
The offensive has opened a new front in the regional war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, drawing the Houthis and Saudi Arabia deeper into the fighting, Reuters reported. The Houthis said Saudi-led coalition strikes hit the port of Ras Issa and an oil facility in Bajil district in Hodeidah province, wounding seven people. The Houthis said they struck airports and military equipment in Saudi Arabia, including King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The coalition said it intercepted ballistic missiles and a drone fired toward southern Saudi Arabia.
The escalation has ended a 2022 truce, brokered by the United Nations, that had largely halted major attacks.
Yemen's government appointed three new ministers, including Salem Al Awlaki as information minister, replacing Moammar Eryani, who had held the post since 2016, by decree of Presidential Leadership Council head Rashad Al Alimi, the state news agency Saba reported.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said nearly 300,000 people have been displaced since August. Roads into Taiz are closed, water production there has halved, food prices have risen at least 50% and hospitals are short of fuel and medicine, he said. "Open the roads and let them through. Civilians cannot be held hostage by the fighting," Fletcher said. He said 70 UN staff members remain detained by the Houthis.