AL-MUKALLA: What began as a Houthi offensive in Taiz has, within days, expanded into fighting across several Yemeni provinces and raised a larger question over the direction of the war: Has the battle to retake Sanaa begun? Yemeni government forces on Wednesday opened a new front against the Iran-backed Houthis in the central province of Marib, adding to ongoing operations in Taiz, Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda. The widening battlefield has fueled speculation that the internationally recognized government is attempting to move beyond containing Houthi attacks and toward a broader campaign aimed ultimately at recapturing the capital. The army’s 3rd Military Region, based in Marib, said that an operation had been launched against Houthi positions south of the city which was intended to halt attacks on government-controlled areas and strengthen defensive lines. A number of Houthi fighters were killed or injured in the operation, military vehicles were destroyed and defensive positions were overran, it said. The fighting came as government forces remained engaged with the Houthis in Al-Jawf and west of Taiz, where troops have been trying to prevent the militia from advancing on positions overlooking the strategic road connecting Taiz with the Red Sea port of Mokha. The latest escalation began on Thursday, when the Houthis attacked government positions in three Taiz districts with missiles, drones and dozens of mortar rounds before launching a ground offensive. Hundreds of people on both sides are believed to have been killed or wounded in the clashes. After receiving reinforcements and air support, government forces managed to blunt the Houthi advances and then began widening their own operations. Troops pushed into Houthi-held areas of Al-Bayda, triggering heavy fighting, before advancing into desert territory in Al-Jawf. By Wednesday the battlefield had expanded again to Marib. The speed with which those fronts opened prompted senior government officials to speak increasingly openly about Sanaa. Yemen’s Deputy Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Samir Al-Sabri said that the government had decided to retake the capital and other Houthi-controlled areas. “The national army will move on all fronts and will not stop until a decisive victory is achieved,” he said on national television on Monday. He called on Houthi fighters to withdraw from the battlefield and urged families living in Houthi-held areas not to send their children to fight alongside the militia. On Wednesday Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Taher Al-Aqili visited troops in Dhale province, where he ordered forces to remain prepared both to repel Houthi attacks and to take the initiative when required. He vowed that the army would “defend the homeland, restore state institutions and end the coup.” A senior government official went further, telling Arab News that the government had decided that the Houthis must be removed from Sanaa by force and that the current military operations were part of that objective. “We will not retreat. War is a series of advances and setbacks,” the person said, requesting anonymity because he was discussing military plans. He said that the government was now better positioned to undertake a wider campaign because armed formations across areas under its control were operating under a more unified command. That development could prove important. For years one of the government camp’s main weaknesses has been the fragmentation of anti-Houthi military forces across different regions and chains of command. The latest fighting has brought several of those forces onto the same battlefield. The Giants Brigades, long deployed primarily in southern Yemen, are now fighting alongside the National Resistance Forces west of Taiz. Meanwhile, the commander of the nation’s Shield Forces arrived with reinforcements in Mokha on Wednesday to support government-aligned units defending western areas from the Houthi offensive. The convergence of these forces has raised expectations among some government supporters that the current escalation could evolve into a larger campaign. But not everyone within the military establishment believes that that point has been reached. Another army official told Arab News that the current operations should still be understood primarily as a response to Houthi attacks rather than the opening phase of a direct offensive on Sanaa. The person said that for a genuine campaign to retake the capital fighting would need to erupt simultaneously along all major frontlines and government forces would require massive military support. Neither condition currently exists. “The operations are a response to Houthi militia attacks on civilians, displaced people and civilian facilities in Marib, Taiz and Mokha, as well as their violations of the truce,” said the official, who also requested anonymity. “The gradual escalation is continuing and the strategic goal remains on track.” That distinction may prove crucial. The government has repeatedly identified the restoration of state authority in Sanaa as its ultimate objective. But declaring that objective and launching the military operation required to achieve it are two very different things. Sanaa has been under Houthi control for years and any attempt to advance on it would require considerably greater manpower, logistics and coordination than the operations currently underway. Nevertheless, the geography of the latest fighting gives the campaign wider strategic significance. Pressure in Al-Jawf could eventually open routes toward Sanaa or the Houthi stronghold of Saada. Operations in Marib place additional strain on Houthi forces to the east of the capital. Fighting in Al-Bayda increases pressure from the south, while the battle west of Taiz forces the Houthis to commit resources to protecting their push toward the Red Sea coast. If those fronts continue to expand simultaneously, the Houthis could face the challenge of defending territory across a much broader battlefield. That in turn could create opportunities for government forces that did not exist when fighting was concentrated along a smaller number of static fronts. For now, however, the government campaign remains somewhere between counteroffensive and strategic escalation. Its forces have expanded the battlefield and senior officials are openly invoking the recapture of Sanaa. But military commanders acknowledge that the conditions required for a decisive advance on the capital have not yet been fully assembled. The coming days may show whether the widening conflict represents another temporary surge in Yemen’s long war or the first stage of an attempt to fundamentally redraw the battlefield. Either way, for the first time in the current round of fighting the question of Sanaa is no longer merely rhetorical.