Yemeni army says 30 Houthis killed, 50 wounded in clashes south of Taiz

Yemeni government forces said Thursday that 30 Houthi fighters were killed and 50 others wounded in clashes south of the city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen.

The media center of the Taiz Military Axis said the casualties occurred on the Al-Aqrud front in Al-Misrakh district.

It said the Houthi fighters were killed and wounded by government forces during the fighting.

A military source told Yemen’s state-run Saba news agency that government forces fought intense battles with the Houthis on several fronts across Taiz province on Thursday.

The source said the fighting was concentrated in Bani Bakari in Jabal Habashi district, Humair in Maqbanah district and the Al-Aqrud front southeast of the province.

The clashes later spread to the Al-Kadaha and Jabal Han fronts, as well as the northern and eastern fronts of Taiz city, the source added.

According to the military source, government forces repelled Houthi attacks after hours of heavy fighting and forced the group’s fighters to retreat, while inflicting losses in personnel and equipment.

The Taiz Military Axis later said warplanes belonging to the armed forces carried out two airstrikes targeting Houthi positions on the Humair front in Maqbanah district, west of Taiz.

There was no comment from the Houthis on the reports.

Fighting has escalated sharply in Taiz and neighboring Lahj in recent weeks. On Monday, government forces said they bombed Houthi reinforcements, including a tank, in the Al-Marzam area of Al-Rubaie district west of Taiz.

Last Friday, government forces also said they seized the strategic Numan mountain range in Lahj, overlooking the Al-Wazi’iyah and Al-Mudarabah districts, following clashes with the Houthis.

The military said control of the area would help secure nearby villages and cut a Houthi infiltration route.

The latest fighting is part of a broader escalation across Yemen that has intensified since July, ending the relative calm that had largely prevailed since a UN-brokered truce took effect in April 2022.

The Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa and several other parts of the country since 2014.