New violent confrontations broke out between the Yemeni army forces and the forces of Ansar Allah (Houthis), concentrated in the areas of Al-Fakhir and Batar in the southern province of Al-Dhale.

These clashes continued for many hours, and were punctuated by intense artillery shelling and heavy exchanges of fire, which resulted in the injury of 5 soldiers of the government forces, which confirmed that they will continue to confront these attacks with the support of Saudi Arabia.

On the other hand, the Houthis announced the death of two of their officers with the rank of colonel, during those field confrontations, while the Yemeni army, for its part, announced the death of one of its officers in similar confrontations that took place on the front of Taiz governorate (southwest).

This sudden flare-up on the ground puts the relative truce, which has been going on for more than 4 years, to the test, amid real fears of its total collapse and the return of the situation to square zero.

Houthis announce public alarm

In parallel with the escalation on the ground, the Houthi forces announced the raising of readiness and public alarm and the inauguration of what they described as a "new phase on the ground", in direct response to the directives of Ansar Allah President Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Khaled al-Madani, the Houthis' general mobilization official in Sana'a, confirmed that they will not accept the continuation of the siege and that they are continuing the battle, announcing that the current phase will witness a doubling of the number of trainees and enrollees in specialized and qualitative military courses compared to the previous stages, during which more than 120,000 fighters were prepared and qualified.

The Houthis' General Mobilization Forces issued a statement confirming the equipping of hundreds of thousands of fighters and hundreds of popular mobilization military brigades, announcing their full readiness to support the group's militants with fighters at any time and place to confront what it describes as the "forces of aggression" (referring to the government and the coalition supporting it), and these Houthi moves came days after the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to stop the war, where the Houthis engaged militarily in support of Tehran.

Government military alert in Marib

On the other hand, and in response to the recent Houthi moves, Yemeni Minister of Defense Taher al-Aqili held an extensive military and security meeting in Marib governorate (the center of the country), which included senior military and security commanders to discuss the latest developments on the hot ground.

During the meeting, Al-Aqili stressed that the current critical stage requires redoubling efforts, integrating roles, and raising the level of combat readiness on various fronts to confront any military emergency and curb violations.

For his part, the spokesman of the pro-government National Resistance Forces, Sadiq Dawid, commented on these developments, stressing that the Houthi escalation is not surprising during periods of calm, considering that the group's behavior reflects the nature of its regional relations with Iran.

On the surface, the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced a tragedy and a heinous crime against children in the village of Al-Ribi in the Hajar area of Al-Dhalea governorate, as a result of the explosion of an explosive projectile of remnants of war and mines.

In a statement, the ministry affirmed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the incident, which resulted in the death of 5 children and the injury of 7 others of varying severity, holding the Houthi group fully responsible for this crime and for the thousands of victims who fell as a result of the remnants of war in various governorates, and warned that the continued cultivation of these bodies constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law.

Failure of political settlement efforts

This heavy human cost comes at a time when UN and international efforts have failed to reach a political settlement to the 12-year-old conflict, as the implementation of the "road map" announced by UN envoy Hans Grundberg at the end of 2023 is still stalled amid a constant exchange of accusations and a complete lack of trust between the parties.

Since April 2022, Yemen has been witnessing a relative truce on various fronts despite the continuation of sporadic clashes, without achieving any progress on the ground for any party, but the continued lack of trust between the two sides may return the situation on the ground to pre-2022, amid a mutual feast, according to observers.

On December 23, 2023, the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced the commitment of the government and the Houthi movement to a package of measures within a "road map" that includes a comprehensive ceasefire and improved living conditions of citizens leading to a political settlement, but its implementation remained stalled amid mutual accusations between the parties.