Yemen's Civil War — The Projection

2026-09-06 — A third day of Mokha-front fighting: government forces claim Hais district, Houthi shelling kills four civilians on Taiz-Aden road

Yemen’s military said Sunday it recaptured Hais district south of Hodeidah — a district linking the Hodeidah, Taiz and Ibb provinces — and captured “dozens” of Houthi fighters in al-Jarahi district, while Houthi shelling on the Taiz-Aden road killed four civilians and wounded nine, and clashes in Taiz itself killed more than 60 on Saturday alone (already logged 09-05). The UN’s OCHA said about 1,800 families have been displaced over the two days of fighting. The Yemeni government warned any Houthi movement toward Bab al-Mandab would face “harsh attrition.” A field officer in Taiz called the “coming hours… decisive” as reinforcements arrived from Aden. AFP’s running tally puts the two-day toll at “nearly 200.” No statement found this window from the UN envoy on a formal truce collapse. (Al Jazeera)

2026-09-05 — A second day of the heaviest fighting in years: more than sixty killed, including six civilians in a bus strike in Taiz

More than sixty people were killed on 09-05 in fighting between Houthi forces and Saudi-backed government forces — 26 government troops, 31 Houthi fighters and six civilians, the last in a missile strike on a bus in Taiz — on the second day of a Houthi western-coast offensive that has pushed toward the port of Mokha and the hills overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait. AFP’s wire carried the identical breakdown later on Saturday, so the count is now wire-corroborated rather than single-outlet. (Times of Israel liveblog, AFP via Aaj English TV)

2026-09-04 — A Houthi ground offensive toward Mokha and Bab al-Mandab kills more than 120 in two days, the worst clashes in years

A Houthi ground offensive launched 09-03/04 in western Yemen pushed toward the Red Sea port of Mokha and the hills overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait, with the toll from Thursday climbing past 120 (AFP, Arab News) and to 129 (Gulf News) by Friday, including a missile strike on a restaurant in al-Makha with civilian casualties. Government forces claimed the same day to have recaptured some of the hills; Houthi officials renewed threats to close Bab al-Mandab if Gulf states join the wider war. The heaviest fighting inside Yemen since the 2022 truce, and the front the UN’s envoy warned in August could return the country to full-scale war. (Arab News, AFP, Al Jazeera, Gulf News)

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This week's evidence

A Houthi ground offensive launched 09-03/04 toward the Red Sea port of Mokha and the hills overlooking Bab al-Mandab has killed more than 120 people since Thursday on AFP's and Arab News' count and 129 on Gulf News' — the heaviest fighting inside Yemen since the 2022 truce — and Saturday added more than sixty more: 26 government troops, 31 Houthi fighters and six civilians in a missile strike on a bus in Taiz. Government forces claimed to have retaken some of the hills; Houthi officials renewed threats to close Bab al-Mandab if Gulf states join the wider war. Distinct from the Houthi maritime campaign, which stays on the Red Sea threads. Saturday's count, first seen in a single liveblog, was carried with the identical breakdown by AFP's wire later in the day. (Arab News, AFP, Al Jazeera, Gulf News, Times of Israel liveblog) 2026-09-05

Yemen's military said on Sunday it had recaptured Hais district south of Hodeidah, which links the Hodeidah, Taiz and Ibb provinces, and taken "dozens" of Houthi fighters prisoner in al-Jarahi, while Houthi shelling on the Taiz–Aden road killed four civilians and wounded nine — a third day of the Mokha-front fighting after Saturday's sixty-plus dead, with OCHA counting about 1,800 families displaced and AFP's running two-day toll at "nearly 200." The government warned that any Houthi move toward Bab al-Mandab would face "harsh attrition"; a field officer called the coming hours "decisive" as reinforcements arrived from Aden. The government's claim of Hais is the government's; no independent confirmation of who holds the district. (Al Jazeera) 2026-09-06 · NEW