U.S. Strikes Spur Plans for Yemeni Ground War Against Houthis

Yemeni forces are planning a ground offensive against the Houthis in an attempt to take advantage of a U.S. bombing campaign that has degraded the militant group’s capabilities, Yemeni and U.S. officials say.

The Yemeni factions are sensing an opportunity to oust the Houthis from at least parts of the Red Sea coast they have controlled in the decade since they took power over much of the country’s northwest, the officials said.

Private American security contractors provided advice to the Yemeni factions on a potential ground operation, people involved in the planning said. The United Arab Emirates, which supports these factions, raised the plan with American officials in recent weeks, the U.S. and Yemeni officials said.
U.S. military assets in the Mideast

The U.S. is open to supporting a ground operation by local forces, the U.S. officials said, while noting that a decision on whether to back the effort hasn’t been made yet. The U.S. isn’t leading the talks for a ground operation, the officials added. The discussion involves empowering the local factions allied with the internationally recognized government in Yemen to take charge of the country’s security, they said.

“Ultimately, security in the Red Sea is the responsibility of our partners in the region, and we’re working closely with them to ensure shipping in those waterways remains safe and open far into the future,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told The Wall Street Journal last week.

Under the plan being discussed, the local factions based in the country’s south would deploy their forces up the Houthi-controlled western Yemeni coast and try to seize the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemeni officials said.

If successful, the ground operation would push the Houthis back from large parts of the coast from where the U.S.-designated terrorist group has launched attacks on ships transiting nearby waters. Capturing Hodeidah would be a major blow to the Houthis, depriving them of an economic lifeline while also cutting off their main route to receive arms from Iran. Tehran publicly denies that it supplies the Houthis with weapons, but United Nations inspectors have regularly traced seized weapons shipments back to Iran.

Senior Houthi leader Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said the U.S. air campaign had failed to stop the group and a ground operation would meet the same fate.

The discussions over a ground operation come as American officials say the U.S. is considering options on how to wind down its air offensive in Yemen, with the Trump administration eager to demonstrate its commitment to limited campaigns and avoid endless wars. A major ground offensive risks reigniting a Yemeni civil war that has been dormant for years and that spurred a humanitarian crisis when a Saudi-Emirati coalition supported local ground forces with a bombing campaign.

The Houthis began to attack ships transiting the Red Sea and nearby waters soon after Israel sent its forces into Gaza in response to the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel that killed 1,200 and led to the kidnapping of about 250 people. Most commercial-ship traffic is still being redirected to the long way around southern Africa and away from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

The U.S. launched its operation targeting the Houthis on March 15, saying it was meant to defend American interests, deter enemies and restore freedom of navigation in one of the most important commercial shipping waterways. The U.S. has launched more than 350 strikes during its current campaign, U.S. officials said. The U.S. military hasn’t released any battlefield assessment since the initial strikes.

Nearly a month of U.S. strikes has shown mixed results, said Yemeni officials and close observers of the war in the country, noting that airstrikes alone won’t defeat the Houthis. Since the U.S. airstrikes began, the Houthis have launched missiles and drones near the USS Harry S. Truman, an aircraft carrier stationed in the Red Sea. They have also resumed their attacks on Israel.

U.S. officials said a second aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships just arrived in the region, likely leading to increased strikes for at least several more weeks.

Still, the possibility of supporting a ground operation raises complications for the U.S., which backed a coalition of around a dozen Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., against the Houthis during Yemen’s long-running civil war. That conflict ended in a 2022 truce, though low-intensity fighting has continued between the Houthis and some Saudi- and U.A.E.-backed factions. Officials from Saudi Arabia, a chief patron of the Yemeni government, have privately told American and Yemeni officials they won’t join or help a ground offensive in Yemen again, fearing the damaging ballistic missile and drone attacks the Houthis previously launched at Saudi cities.

The considerations come as the U.S. began talks with Iran over its nuclear program in Oman on Saturday. U.S. officials have said Washington wants to bring Tehran’s support of regional allies such as the Houthis into the conversation, but the topic didn’t come up for discussion in Muscat, according to people briefed on the talks.

At the same time, the U.S. is also working with Arab mediators on a cease-fire plan for the war in Gaza. The Houthis have said they would stop attacking Red Sea shipping if the war in Gaza ends.

The Houthis have spent years stockpiling missiles and drones, hiding them in caves or underground facilities where they have built weapons assembly lines and launching facilities.

A ground operation will help target military infrastructure that is difficult to hit from the air, analysts and observers say.

“We have been ready and prepared since day one to liberate Hodeidah and all areas under Houthi control—with or without American involvement,” said Waddah Al-Dubeish, a spokesman for the Joint Forces on the West Coast, a group of pro-government militias. But he said the decision ultimately lies with the Yemeni government and the Saudi-Emirati military coalition that backs it.

Tareq Saleh, the head of the Yemeni National Resistance faction, said military action was the only way to end the threat represented by the Houthis.

Riyadh may change its mind if the Houthis turn threats against Saudi Arabia into attacks, said Mohammed al-Basha, a U.S.-based Middle East security analyst for Basha Report.

Spokespeople for the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Biden administration, which was trying to avoid a wider Middle East war as Israel and Hamas clashed, sent U.S. warships to try to protect international shipping and conducted strikes against the Houthis. But the Trump administration has been more aggressive and has expanded its list of targets to include Houthi military leaders.