A month into the government's offensive against the Houthis, Yemen's war shows no sign of a quick end. The latest blow to civilians came on Friday, when a missile hit a market in Taiz governorate and killed dozens, with each side blaming the other.

The internationally recognised government launched the campaign against the Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran, at the start of October. The campaign, named Dawn of Yemen, was announced on 5 October by Rashad al Alimi, who heads the Presidential Leadership Council. Its declared goals are to win back territory held by the Houthis and ultimately to retake Sanaa, the capital, which the group has controlled since September 2014.

The government relies on air cover from the Saudi led coalition alongside ground units. A central aim on the western front is to loosen the Houthi grip on the Red Sea corridor and secure the Bab al Mandeb strait, after the group seized the port of Mocha in September.

Progress has been uneven. Government forces claimed early gains near Dhubab and on mountain positions in western Taiz, and fighting later spread to Marib. Yet they also lost ground in Taiz governorate, leaving the city under a Houthi siege that is now a month old. On Friday the government said it had retaken several villages and hills in the governorate and new positions in Lahij, and claimed more than 1,200 operations against Houthi targets. Those figures could not be independently confirmed.

Analysts doubt the offensive can deliver a decisive result. One academic specialist argued that government troops are stretched across too many fronts with ageing equipment, and that the mountains ringing Sanaa make it easy to defend. In his view the campaign is better seen as a way to raise the cost of the war for the Houthis than as a bid for outright victory.

Meanwhile civilians are paying heavily. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since the fighting escalated, and the Presidential Leadership Council insists its drive is irreversible, suggesting the conflict may deepen before any settlement comes into view.