ADEN, Yemen/SANAA/RIYADH — Yemen's government forces said Sunday that more than 500 soldiers were killed and about 1,500 wounded in month-long battles with the Houthis along the western coast, as the group mounted a sweeping advance toward the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.
In a statement carried by Al-Joumhouriya TV, the government's National Resistance Forces said the casualties were recorded between Aug 9 and Sept 10, while claiming that more than 1,000 Houthi members were killed and thousands wounded. The figures could not be independently verified.
The statement said the fighting began with Houthi missile, drone and explosive-boat attacks before expanding from Hays in the southern part of the Red Sea province of Hodeidah to several fronts in neighboring southwestern Taiz province.
The casualties came amid a sweeping Houthi offensive launched on Sept 3 that rapidly redrew front lines along Yemen's Red Sea coast, with the group capturing several government-held areas in Hodeidah province and neighboring Taiz province.
The Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday before pushing south on Friday into the Bab al-Mandab area and seizing Mayun Island at the heart of the strait, tightening their grip on the vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi forces subsequently advanced farther south toward neighboring Lahj province, where retreating government forces had regrouped, bringing the fighting closer to Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government.
Strikes across Yemen
The Houthis said Sunday that "Saudi warplanes" had launched 58 airstrikes across six provinces of the war-ravaged Arab country over the past 24 hours, as fighting intensified between the group and Yemeni government forces on multiple fronts.
In a statement on social media platform X, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the strikes stretched across much of Yemen, hitting Taiz in the southwest, Lahj in the south, Al-Jawf and Saada in the north, Hajjah in the northwest, and Al-Bayda in the country's central region.
Sarea said F-15 fighter jets carried out the strikes after taking off from the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, a southwestern Saudi city near the Yemeni border, describing the bombardment as Saudi "aggression."
Saudi Arabia has yet to comment on the Houthi claims, and casualties from the reported strikes remain unclear.
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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan discuss regional de-escalation efforts
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday discussed regional developments and diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions, according to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During a phone call, Sharif condemned the attacks targeting Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi group, denouncing what he described as flagrant violations of the kingdom's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reiterated Pakistan's full solidarity with Saudi Arabia, said a statement posted on social media platform X by the ministry.
Sharif also condemned the attacks targeting Saudi Arabia's vital oil infrastructure and reaffirmed Pakistan's support for the kingdom's security.
The Saudi foreign ministry said Friday that its East-West Pipeline was attacked by several drones launched from Iraq, causing injuries and damage. Ali al-Zaidi, Iraq's prime minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, dismissed the Maysan Operations Commander on Saturday after authorities confirmed attacks targeting Saudi Arabia had been launched from a site in Maysan province in southern Iraq.
Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the East-West Pipeline, which carries crude oil from its eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
