Giant Brigades Lead Southern Yemen’s Fight Against the Houthis

Southern Yemen’s giant battalions have emerged as one of the leading forces against the Houthis.

On October 5, groups affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), including the powerful Southern Giants Brigades, and forces from the internationally recognized government of Yemen launched a major offensive against the Houthis near the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

It was part of a nationwide military campaign aimed at ousting the Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansarullah, or God's Supporters, from areas they control, including the vital coastline region seized by the Iran-linked group in September.

List of 3 items List 1 of 3 Yemeni forces claim key gains near Bab al-Mandab: What's the latest?

List 2 of 3 What is needed for the Yemen attack to succeed?

List 3 of 3 The Yemeni government is attacking the Houthis. What has changed?

end of list By Monday afternoon, pro-government forces led by the Ghouls Brigade said they had succeeded in cutting off the main road linking the Red Sea port city of Moka to Bab al-Mandeb, a vital waterway for energy supplies.

It effectively marked one of the first major military gains by anti-Houthi forces in years, and followed the announcement by Rashid al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), of a major offensive against the Iran-backed group. It also emphasized the effectiveness of anti-Houthi forces - which include units with opposing political goals - when working together.

This has seen STC-affiliated groups, some of which are seeking southern independence, ally with pro-government national forces against the Houthis.

The cooperation between the two factions follows a high-profile conflict in southern Yemen in January, when Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces defeated the UAE-backed STC, leading to a partial concentration of anti-Houthi forces.

Among the leading organizations in the recent government offensive led by this alliance are the giants brigades, which have their roots in the separatist movement of the south.

The force is commanded by Abd al-Rahman Abu-Zara al-Muharami, a Salafist who studies at the ultra-conservative Damaj religious school in the northern province of Saada.

Formed mainly by Salafi fighters during the battle against the Houthis in the southern city of Aden in the first half of 2015, the Ghoul Brigades became one of Yemen's most powerful military forces during the war.

The brigades, believed to have been armed, trained and financed by the UAE, rose to prominence in 2017 when they led an offensive that captured large swaths of Yemen's western coast from the Houthis. The advance finally halted on the outskirts of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah after the UN-brokered Stockholm deal in late 2018.

In January 2022, the Ghul Brigades scored another major victory against the Houthis, seizing three districts in southern Shabwah province and advancing deep into neighboring Marib. Their offensive stopped after the Houthis attacked Abu Dhabi on January 17, 2022.

Before the war, which began with the Houthi takeover of Sana'a in September 2014, the Muharrami did not have a clear military record, and the group has largely stayed out of internal conflicts between anti-Houthi forces.

He joined Yemen's eight-member PLC in April 2022, around the time his forces adopted the name Southern Giants Brigade, reflecting their growing political identity in the south. This formation later joined the STC, further strengthening the brigades' ties with the separatist movement in the south.

When STC forces collapsed following a Yemeni government offensive in January, Al Muharrami flew to Riyadh and supported the Saudi initiative to unify southern forces.

The participation of giant brigades in the war against the Houthis is now seen as a test of its political loyalty, and some observers argue that it remains essentially a separatist force.

Some believe that the previous advances of the Ghul battalions against the Houthis in Hodeida indicate that the group does not necessarily have a separatist agenda.

They have also pointed to the group's leadership of a recent military offensive against the Houthis across southern Yemen, where many former STC units are holed up, as another sign of its stronger commitment to national unity.

Fathi bin Lazraq, the editor of Aden al-Ghad newspaper and a staunch critic of the southern separatists, believes that giant brigades are ready to fight the Houthis in any part of Yemen.

He told Al Jazeera: "These forces are part of a group that has been fighting with the Houthis since 2015 and was formed after the collapse of the Yemeni army in Yemen. "They engage with the Houthis in military, political, civil and religious aspects."

Ben Lazraq described the Ghul battalions as a powerful fighting force and pointed to their previous operations in the northern regions, including Hodeidah and Marib. He also believes that the word "southern" in their name does not necessarily mean that they support secession or refrain from fighting beyond the borders of the former independent state of South Yemen.

But unlike the Homeland Shield Forces, which were established by PLC Chairman Al-Aleimi in January 2023 and placed under his direct command, and have declared their allegiance to the internationally recognized government, the Giants Brigades operate in a more gray area.

"They are not fighting as 'Southern Forces' per se, but rather as part of the legitimate government forces supported by the [Saudi-led] coalition," Ben Lazraq said. "While they operate under the banner of the Southern Forces, they do not claim to be separatists or anything, given that they fought in Hodeidah and Marib."

The giants brigades and even the hard-line separatist forces affiliated with the STC had understood the dangers posed by the Houthis and the need to ally with the government forces to fight this group.

"It is agreed that the Houthis are a threat: if we don't go to them, they will come to us. Ghul Brigades and other forces are all united in a single battle to confront the Houthis.

But accusations that the giants' brigades have separatist aspirations in the south are also not out of place. The group's current offensive is focused on areas within the borders of the former entity of South Yemen, including the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Some of their fighters taking part in the offensive around Bab al-Mandab have raised the former flag of South Yemen, and embedded journalists have also shared footage showing soldiers expressing southern separatist sentiments.

STC chief Aidros al-Zubaidi, who has not appeared publicly since the defeat of his forces in January, opened the debate by expressing condolences for the fighters killed in the attack, describing them as martyrs, and criticizing what he said others were giving credit for the southern forces' victories.

"The South will not allow the victories of its armed forces to be stolen under slogans that do not reflect its reality," Al-Zubaidi said on Channel X.

STC spokesman Anwar al-Tamimi told Al Jazeera that the participation of southern forces in the campaign was focused on capturing and securing Bab al-Mandeb and its surrounding areas, which the separatists consider part of the government they seek to restore.

"The participation of southern forces with the aim of protecting and securing the borders of the south is a principle deeply rooted in the military doctrine of the south and central to the south." Bab al-Mandeb is located in the territory of the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

Al-Tamimi did not rule out the possibility of southern forces advancing deep into northern Yemen to secure their gains and borders after similar military operations in the north.

Despite participating in the wider anti-Houthi offensive, the Ghool Brigades remained loyal to the Southern Independence Movement.

Al-Tamimi told Al-Jazeera: "The giants' brigades are southern brigades that are guided by the southern fighting spirit along with elements of Salafist ideas.

"It serves to strengthen the national project of the south rather than bypassing it. The giant brigades are a southern force. They carry the flag and flag of the south and there is no problem in this regard. They are part of the armed forces of the South - and very active in that part.