Yemeni army claims Sanamat in Taiz and 1,298 operations against Houthis

Yemen's armed forces spokesman, Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili, said on Thursday 5 November that government forces had captured the Sanamat area in Taiz province. In a statement on X, reported by Anadolu Agency, he also claimed 1,298 military operations against Houthi positions, gatherings, reinforcements and firing positions. He said warplanes, drones and artillery backed them. He claimed about 440 Houthi fighters and commanders were "neutralized" and 132 military vehicles, armored vehicles and heavy weapons were destroyed or damaged.

The statement covers "Dawn of Yemen", the government offensive launched on 5 October. Anadolu and the Saudi outlet Ajel carried the figures as government claims. Arab News reported that the figures and battlefield claims, which include the Sanamat capture, could not be independently verified. The Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement that has held Sanaa since late 2014, had not confirmed a death toll, Al Jazeera reported on 5 November. The sources do not define "neutralized" or say what period the 440 figure covers.

What the statement says, and what can be checked

Al-Nuzaili said forces in Taiz, "backed by local resistance fighters" (Anadolu's wording), took Sanamat and kept thwarting infiltration attempts. In Al-Jawf, in the north, military engineers continued clearing recaptured positions of landmines and booby traps. He reported continued clashes on the southern and southwestern fronts. He also said forces were "taking precautions to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure."

The best-supported gain lies elsewhere. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a research group, said geolocated video published on 4 November showed government-aligned forces at several positions near Jabal Dahida in eastern Al-Jawf, and ISW's assessment rests on that footage. ISW described the range as about 75 miles east of the provincial capital, al-Hazm. It assessed that the government likely intends to capture Jabal Dahida and other mountainous areas in central Al-Jawf as part of a shaping operation that, if successful, could facilitate an offensive to retake al-Hazm.

Yazeed al-Jeddawy of the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies told Al Jazeera that the offensive "has not shifted the balance of power over the past 30 days." Al Jazeera reports the Houthis have scored gains in Taiz and Lahij, where fighting has not ceased. Crisis.Zone reported the Houthi capture of Mocha on the Red Sea coast in September.

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What to watch

Several things could settle the claims. One is whether footage or independent reporting emerges from Sanamat or elsewhere in Taiz. Another is whether the Jabal Dahida push extends toward al-Hazm, as ISW suggests it might.

The Red Cross (ICRC) said it delivered four truckloads of medical supplies to Taiz, a city surrounded by Houthi forces, after renewed fighting had cut off access for weeks, Reuters reported on 4 November. Its head of delegation, Christine Cipolla, said "Health facilities as well as the wounded and the sick must be protected." The ICRC cited significant difficulties reaching areas heavily affected by fighting.

Government and Houthi tallies will keep arriving. The Presidential Leadership Council separately claimed 40,761 operations and about 20,000 Houthi members neutralized since 5 October. The reports do not explain how that total relates to the army's figures. Whether any of these numbers match the ground in Taiz remains open.