Ansarallah Offensive Near Taiz Threatens to Cut Key Supply Routes Between Aden and Yemen’s Interior
Forces aligned with Yemen’s Sana’a authorities are advancing around Taiz in an operation aimed at severing supply lines from Aden to the highland city. Gains across several mountainous fronts put government‑aligned units under pressure and risk tightening the siege on a population already trapped between front lines.
A multi-front push by forces loyal to Yemen’s Sana’a authorities is tightening the noose around Taiz and threatening to cut crucial supply routes from Aden, in one of the most consequential shifts on this battlefield in months.
The operation, which Sana’a-aligned media refer to as “And Allah is More Severe in Power and More Severe in Punishment,” is now in its third day and focused on reducing the Taiz governorate’s salient and choking off lines feeding Aden-backed forces in and around Taiz city. Reporting from the ground points to gains across several rugged fronts, where steep ridgelines determine who can move food, fuel, and ammunition.
On the Ash Shamayatayn front, Ansarallah fighters took control of Jabal Haradh, Jabal Qardad, and the villages of Jurdad overnight. Those positions fell after Aden’s forces fully withdrew before an encirclement could be completed, pulling back toward Jabal Samdan and Jabal Ashah. The withdrawal opened the way for Sana’a forces to move into Awzamah, Al-Qahir, and Kulah, extending their grip over high ground that overlooks routes into southern Taiz.
Further south and east, the offensive is pressing along additional axes. On the Jabal Habashi front, fighting is reported in the Adinah and Jarf areas, with no stable front line in the mountain terrain. Ansarallah is said to be pouring reinforcements into this sector in preparation for what sources describe as a final assault on Jabal Habashi itself—a position that commands approaches to Taiz and neighboring districts.
North of those clashes, Sana’a forces resumed an advance from Bani Muhammad along two directions. From the south, they moved along the border with Lahij governorate and captured towns in the Al-Zaazi and Al-Masahin areas. From the north, they seized Bani Shaybah Ash Sharq and Jabal Al-Maqarmah. Intense fighting is now reported in Al-Maqarmah and Zakirah, after reinforcements for the internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) reached the front.
For civilians in Taiz and surrounding districts, the geography of this offensive is not an abstraction. Taiz has been partially besieged for years, with residents facing restricted movement, high prices, and limited access to medical care and basic goods. Every road that changes hands can mean an extra day added to journey times, an extra layer of risk for truck drivers, and another barrier for humanitarian aid. A complete severing of routes from Aden to Taiz would leave communities even more reliant on informal, dangerous mountain tracks and on local markets already thinned by years of war.
For fighters on both sides, the mountainous terrain turns every advance into a test of logistics as much as firepower. Controlling peaks like Jabal Haradh or Jabal Qardad allows a force to observe and interdict enemy movement below with artillery and anti-tank weapons. Losing those positions can render nearby defensive lines untenable, forcing withdrawals that quickly snowball, as appears to have happened with Aden-aligned units pulling back before encirclement.
Strategically, a successful Sana’a advance that fully cuts Aden–Taiz supply lines would weaken the internationally backed government’s military posture in southwest Yemen and increase Ansarallah’s leverage in any future negotiations. It would also deepen Yemen’s fragmentation: a more isolated Taiz would find it harder to act as a bridge between the Houthi-held north and the south controlled by a patchwork of government and separatist forces backed by the Saudi- and Emirati-led coalition.
The offensive fits a broader pattern of Ansarallah exploiting moments of political distraction—both inside Yemen and in foreign capitals—to consolidate control over contested ground. Every kilometer gained around Taiz shifts the balance when parties calculate how much territory they can trade at a negotiating table.
Signals to watch include whether PLC and Aden-aligned commanders can stabilize new defensive lines around Jabal Samdan, Jabal Ashah, and Zakirah, whether outside backers move to reinforce those fronts with air or artillery support, and whether humanitarian agencies report new access constraints into Taiz. A decisive break in the road network between Aden and the city would mark a new phase in a war that has already left millions living on the edge of famine.
Sources
- OSINT