Yemeni government forces report clashes with Houthis across Taiz

DUBAI: Yemeni government forces said on Thursday they were engaged in fierce fighting with Iran-backed Houthi forces across several fronts in Taiz province, as they reported artillery exchanges and air strikes targeting Houthi positions.

The fighting was reported in Bani Bakari, Jabal Habashi and Hamir in western Taiz, according to government forces.

The latest clashes follow a series of military operations reported by Yemeni government forces on Wednesday across Taiz and elsewhere in the country.

The Media Center for Field Developments of the Taiz military axis said government forces had engaged in heavy clashes with the Houthis on the Al-Kadha and Hamir fronts in western Taiz, as well as the Kalaba front northeast of Taiz city.

Military drones targeted Houthi positions on the Al-Kadha front, destroying a 120 mm cannon and setting fire to an ammunition depot, the center said. Warplanes also carried out strikes on Houthi positions in the Al-Wazi’iyah area west of Taiz, it said.

Government forces also targeted Houthi fighters gathered at Jabal Gharab and Taba Yassin in northwestern Taiz, while artillery fire hit Houthi positions on the Al-Ashrouh front west of Taiz and the Assifra front north of the city, according to the center.

On the Salo front southeast of Taiz, government forces targeted Houthi positions in Sayla Halama and Al-Rafsa, it added.

In addition, Col. Majid Al-Nuzaili, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said the military had carried out eight “precise targeting operations” against Houthi reinforcements, weapons and military equipment.

The operations targeted three artillery batteries on the Al-Wazi’iyah front and a mobile air-defense system in Mokha, a Red Sea port town west of Taiz, Al-Nuzaili said. He said the system had been developed by experts from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and had previously been identified by Yemeni forces.

Al-Nuzaili also said Houthi leaders and fighters had been “neutralized” in the Mansoura and Bab Al-Mandab areas, without providing further details.

The spokesman said the operations were conducted as part of continued monitoring of Houthi movements.

In a separate statement, the Yemeni Armed Forces said they had targeted weapons depots in eastern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold in northern Yemen. The depots contained large quantities of ammunition, including anti-tank missiles, artillery shells and other weapons, the forces said.

The Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern and western Yemen, have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government and allied forces for more than a decade. The conflict has largely remained frozen along several front lines since a UN-brokered truce in 2022, although intermittent fighting has continued.

Source – Arab News