ADEN, Yemen, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- 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.
Yemen's conflict erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.■
