Yemeni government forces said on Thursday that 30 Houthi fighters were killed and 50 others wounded in fierce battles in the southwestern province of Taiz.
Pro-government Aljoumhouriya TV channel, citing a military statement, said that the Houthis were killed or wounded during confrontations in the Al-Aqroud area of Al-Misrakh district in southern Taiz.
A Yemeni military official told Xinhua that fierce clashes had been raging since early Thursday across five fronts in Taiz, with both government forces and the Houthi group suffering "heavy casualties."
The official, on condition of anonymity, said the clashes involved intense artillery exchanges and drone attacks.
He added that Saudi warplanes had carried out several airstrikes against Houthi-held positions across Taiz during the day, while government forces stepped up ground operations and mobilized additional forces to reinforce several active fronts.
The latest battles came amid sustained clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis in Taiz and neighboring Lahj province, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic maritime chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Hostilities around the strait have intensified since Houthi forces captured the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Sept 10 and Mayyun Island, also known as Perim, on Sept 11, extending the group's presence around the key waterway and shifting some of the fiercest ground battles into the mountainous areas of Taiz and Lahj provinces.
Sources: Airstrikes hit Houthi forces
A wave of airstrikes hit Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa late Thursday, setting off powerful explosions across the city, with strikes also reported in other provinces of the war-ravaged country, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.
The channel said what it described as "Saudi aggression" targeted Sanaa as well as the northern provinces of Saada and Amran and the southwestern province of Taiz, without immediately providing details on the targets, casualties or damage.
Residents in Sanaa told Xinhua that more than five powerful explosions shook the Houthi-held capital within a short period, with the blasts reverberating across several residential neighborhoods.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the claims.
The strikes came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said in a statement posted on social media platform X that it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles and four drones launched by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait and Jazan in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Yemen's conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The rapid Houthi advance marked the sharpest escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities.
