Yemen's internationally recognised government says its forces have recaptured military positions and strategic heights east of al-Hazm, the capital of the northern governorate of al-Jawf, while fighting continues around the besieged city of Taiz in the south, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday. The army's media centre said in a post on X on Saturday that the 1st Emergency Brigade seized weapons and ammunition depots after wounding, killing and capturing Houthi fighters, and that armoured vehicles were destroyed.
Source: Al Jazeera via Dominica Gazette, Nov 1, 2026
The Houthis, meanwhile, said they had thwarted advances by government forces in al-Jawf and neighbouring Marib, Al Jazeera reported. The two sides' accounts of who holds the heights east of al-Hazm could not be independently verified, and Awaaz Punjab is reporting both claims as claims.
Yemen Monitor, reporting the Armed Forces Media Center's statement, added detail the government side has not given elsewhere: it said Houthi fighters fled the retaken sites near the Duhaidha Mountains, that the confrontations destroyed several combat vehicles and armoured personnel carriers, and that military operations are continuing to reclaim the remainder of al-Jawf governorate.
Source: Yemen Monitor, Oct 31, 2026
A Yemeni military source separately told the German Press Agency (DPA) that government forces had taken full control of the Huwayshian mountain range east of al-Hazm after intense battles that began on Friday, describing the range as the first line of defence for al-Hazm, which remains under Houthi control.
Source: DPA via Voice of Emirates, Oct 31, 2026
A strategic border front
Al-Jawf borders Saudi Arabia and lies alongside the Houthi-held governorates of Sanaa and Saada, making it a vital strategic front in the government's campaign to regain territory. The fighting is part of Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched in October to reverse Houthi gains and restore government control over territory held by the group, which seized Sanaa in 2014, Al Jazeera said.
Fighting has also continued around Taiz in southern Yemen, with government forces saying they repelled Houthi attacks in al-Aqroudh, southeast of the city, and on the Tur al-Baha front in neighbouring Lahij governorate. Houthi-affiliated media separately reported that two air strikes targeted an oil company facility in Bajil district in Hodeidah governorate — a report attributed to Houthi media, with no independent confirmation of who carried out the strikes.
The humanitarian cost keeps rising
The fighting comes as the siege of Taiz strains hospitals and restricts deliveries of food, fuel and medical supplies. More than 290,000 people have fled their homes since fighting escalated in August, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The UN Population Fund said nearly 6,100 pregnant women were among those recently displaced, including 600 expected to give birth within two weeks of its briefing on Friday, and the UN refugee agency warned that more than 65,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen face worsening conditions as services are disrupted and food and fuel prices rise.
What happens next depends on whether the government can hold the heights east of al-Hazm — the Houthis' claim to have thwarted the advance suggests the front is still contested — and on whether the al-Jawf fighting widens along the Saudi border while the Taiz siege continues to squeeze civilians in the south.