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According to the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center and several Arab media outlets, the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the internationally recognized government of Yemen supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Nations, is massing upwards of 80,000 troops for a major offensive to retake the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah on the western coast of Yemen. This would be by far the largest offensive of the ongoing Yemeni Civil War, which has seen the PLC and its allies in the Southern Transitional Council and the Yemeni National Resistance slowly grow in firepower and influence since 2017. The capture of Hodeidah would effectively surround the Iranian-backed Houthis in Western Yemen, enabling future operations to retake the capital of Sana’a which has been under Houthi control since the war began in 2014. It is not known what role the United States and other Gulf Nations which support the PLC, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, would would play in such an offensive, if at all. However reports are suggesting that the U.S. Air Force is already aiding the Yemeni Armed Forces with intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) flights over Houthi-controlled territory in Western Yemen, while recent drone and airstrikes against the Houthis have targeted frontline positions and could be described as “shaping” to support a future offensive.
