Yemen's ambassador to Germany briefs lawmaker Aydan Özoğuz on Operation Yemen Dawn

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BERLIN, Germany — Yemen’s ambassador to Germany briefed a member of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee on Friday about the government’s offensive against the Houthis.

Lou’ay Yahya Abdul Rahman al-Eryani met Aydan Özoğuz in Berlin, the state news agency Saba reported.

The account of the meeting rests on Saba, which is run by Yemen’s internationally recognised government. No independent confirmation has been published, and Yemen Herald could not verify it.

Saba said the two discussed developments in Yemen, including what the agency called the Houthi militias’ military escalation.

They also discussed the launch of Operation Yemen Dawn, the agency said.

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, announced that operation on Oct. 5 in a post on X.

Al-Alimi said it aimed to restore state institutions, retake Sanaa and end Houthi control of the capital. He said the campaign was not directed at civilians.

The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said hours earlier that it was providing full operational support to Yemeni forces. It cited the Houthi threat to freedom of maritime navigation.

The coalition’s reference to maritime navigation follows a shift in Saudi shipping patterns. Saudi seaborne crude exports through Bab al-Mandab were eight times higher from March to mid-July than in the same period of 2025, Al Jazeera reported.

The Houthis reject the government’s account of the campaign. Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify battlefield claims from either side.

Saba said the two sides stressed the importance of continued German support for Yemen, and of mobilising humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering of Yemenis.

They discussed challenges facing efforts to reach peace and stability, the agency said.

Saba said Özoğuz expressed interest in developments in Yemen and support for the Yemeni people. It said she intended to increase German parliamentary attention to the country.

Yemen Herald found no German account of the meeting.

Özoğuz is a Social Democrat and represents the Hamburg-Wandsbek constituency. She sits as a full member of the foreign affairs committee.

She chairs the Bundestag’s committee on sport and volunteering. She also chairs the German-Korean parliamentary group.

She is a full member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly. Her Bundestag biography lists her as spokesperson of the Social Democrats’ Hamburg state group since 2021.

Özoğuz previously served as a vice-president of the Bundestag. She did not stand for the post again in the current parliament.

Al-Eryani has held the Berlin post since February 2025. Al-Alimi administered his oath at Yemen’s embassy in Riyadh on Feb. 10 that year.

Germany is among Yemen’s larger bilateral donors. Its Federal Foreign Office recorded 50 million euros in development cooperation and more than 25 million euros in humanitarian assistance for 2025.

The ministry says few German humanitarian projects currently run in Houthi-controlled areas. It cites the safety of personnel and a concern that the Houthis would otherwise gain strength.

Germany supports United Nations-led efforts and the work of the Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen, according to the ministry.

Fighting resumed across Yemen in July, after the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping.

Hostilities restarted after an Iranian aircraft tried to land in Sanaa without Saudi authorisation, Al Jazeera reported. Strikes on Sanaa airport followed, and the Houthis retaliated.

Al Jazeera described the exchanges as the most serious since a United Nations-brokered truce halted large-scale fighting in 2022.

Yemen’s government said its warplanes struck Houthi positions in Hodeidah, Marib and al-Jawf on Sept. 6. The Houthis said Saudi aircraft and cruise missiles struck al-Jawf, al-Bayda, Marib and Taiz the following day.

Saudi Arabia said Houthi attacks hit Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Najran in September. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, the coalition spokesman, said at least 73 people were wounded in the kingdom.

The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of an air strike on a prison in al-Hazm, saying seven people were killed and seven injured. Riyadh did not immediately comment.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign minister, condemned the Houthi attacks. He said the road to diplomacy was not closed.

The World Health Organization said in September that at least 728 people had been killed or wounded since Aug. 23, most of them in Taiz and along the western coast.

Government forces said this month that they had taken the Bab al-Mandab strait and the port of Mokha. The Houthis denied it.

The International Organization for Migration said more than 201,000 people had been displaced since September. Taiz accounted for 57 percent of them.

The agency counted 29,519 displaced families across 10 governorates. More than 3,600 people crossed into Djibouti.

Abdusattor Esoev, who heads the IOM mission in Yemen, said displaced families were arriving without shelter or food.

The United Nations health cluster recorded 5,166 casualties in Yemen from Aug. 6, including 959 deaths.

The United Nations humanitarian response plan published in March counted more than 22 million Yemenis in need of assistance. It put 18.3 million people at acute levels of food insecurity.

The plan recorded more than 2.2 million children under five acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely. It sought $2.16 billion to reach 12 million people.

Saba did not say whether the two discussed Yemenis held by the Houthis.