# Yemen's Government Forces Launch a Counteroffensive and Say They Intend to Retake Sanaa

The Saudi-led coalition says Houthi attacks have wounded 73 civilians inside Saudi Arabia, in a significant escalation following the United Nations-brokered truce of 2022.

- Published: 2026-09-08T05:13:34.188Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-09-08/yemen-s-government-forces-launch-a-counteroffensive-and-say
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/8/yemeni-forces-launch-counteroffensive-against-houthis-vow-to-retake-sanaa), [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/8/houthi-attacks-on-saudi-arabia-have-wounded-73-civilians-official-says), [i24NEWS](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/the-gulf/artc-yemen-war-escalates-as-saudi-aligned-forces-and-houthis-clash-in-deadly-offensive)

Forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government have launched counterattacks against the Houthi movement, and Major General Samir al-Sabri, the deputy defense minister, said on state television that [the decision has been made to retake Sanaa](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/8/yemeni-forces-launch-counteroffensive-against-houthis-vow-to-retake-sanaa), the capital the Houthis seized more than a decade ago. Fighting has intensified in al-Bayda, which connects eight governorates in the country's center, and in al-Jawf, which borders Saudi Arabia and leads toward the Houthi stronghold of Saada.

A spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have [wounded 73 civilians, with strikes on sites in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/8/houthi-attacks-on-saudi-arabia-have-wounded-73-civilians-official-says). The Houthis describe their operations as responses to the coalition's air campaign and to the ground offensive. i24NEWS reports that [more than 300 people have been killed in the renewed offensives](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/the-gulf/artc-yemen-war-escalates-as-saudi-aligned-forces-and-houthis-clash-in-deadly-offensive) with clashes across the entire front. Casualty figures in Yemen come from the parties to the conflict and cannot be independently confirmed.

The fighting marks a significant escalation since the United Nations brokered a truce that halted large-scale fighting in 2022. It also removes the assumption that has supported Gulf energy pricing since then, which is that Saudi Arabia's southern border and its energy infrastructure sit outside the active war. Brent crude has risen roughly 11 percent over the past month, and the Yemeni front is one of several inputs into that move.

## What this means

Saudi Arabia's oil and gas infrastructure sits within range of the weapons being used, which is the specific channel through which a Yemeni ground war reaches energy prices. Attacks on Abha and Jazan are near, though not on, that infrastructure. Energy importers in Asia carry the exposure through crude prices, and Saudi Arabia carries it through defense spending and any interruption to export capacity. If the government offensive stalls short of Sanaa, the likely outcome is a prolonged war of attrition that keeps a risk premium in crude without producing a supply loss. If Houthi strikes reach an export facility, the premium becomes an actual disruption.

## What to watch

- Whether government forces take ground in al-Jawf, the province that leads toward the Houthi stronghold and would show the offensive is more than a declaration.
- Any Houthi strike on Saudi energy infrastructure rather than on populated areas, which is the event that would convert the current risk premium into a physical supply loss.
- Whether shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait is targeted again, since the Yemeni conflict has previously spread to that route within weeks of ground escalation.