Yemeni forces opposed to the Houthis are in talks with the US and Gulf Arab allies about a possible land offensive to oust the rebels from the Red Sea coast, according to people involved in the discussions.
The conversations come about a month into a US-led aerial assault against the Houthis ordered by President Donald Trump, an operation yet to achieve its aim of ending the Iran-backed group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a vital trade route.
A Yemeni Internationally Recognized government’s ground offensive, which could include an attempt to liberate the capital Sanaa after more than a decade under Houthi rebels’ control, would significantly broaden and intensify that campaign. It would not involve US troops, the people said.
The US and regional work to escalate military pressure against the Houthis has become more urgent due to growing international concern over links between the Houthi rebels and al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda based across the Gulf of Aden in the Horn of Africa, including Somalia. The Houthis are colluding with al-Shabaab on training and weapons smuggling, according to US Africa Command.
U.S. President Trump has commented on the Houthi-Somali link, posting that the US “will support the Somali People, who should not allow the Houthis to embed (which they are trying to do!), to end terrorism.”
The head of US Central Command, Michael Kurilla, held talks in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh this month with the chiefs of staff of the Saudi and Yemeni armed forces.
The generals discussed “ongoing efforts against the Iran-backed Houthis,” the Pentagon said, without elaborating. Those involved in the meetings on the Saudi and Yemeni sides said the talks focused on how a ground operation could leverage US airstrikes to further degrade the Houthis.
The White House National Security Council didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
One scenario involves a multi-front assault, coordinated with the US military, with the aim of driving the Houthis out of the key port of Hodeida — a source of many of their attacks — and building pressure on them in Sanaa, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters.
The stated objective of the US bombing of the Houthis has been to curtail the group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping and the US has been cagey about releasing battlefield assessments of the latest military effort. However it appears to be more intensive and sustained than the one started under former President Joe Biden in January 2024.
A US defense official told Bloomberg News earlier this month that Houthi targets are being struck day and night, resulting in the killing of several of the group’s commanders, as well as the destruction of command and control facilities, air-defense systems and weapons manufacturing and storage sites.
Meanwhile, the US is currently engaged in talks with Iran about its nuclear program, with negotiations likely to extend to Tehran’s influence over its various allied militia. However, observers like Matthew Levitt, who directs the counter-terrorism and intelligence program at the Washington Institute, think that there’s a risk of overstating the losses suffered by Iran and its proxies and of underestimating the ability of the Houthis to fight independently.
Iran “has had a big setback but at the end of the day not a single one of their proxies has been completely destroyed,” he said.