SANAA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group 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.
The strikes came amid a sweeping Houthi offensive launched on Sept. 3 that rapidly redrew front lines along Yemen's Red Sea coast, capturing several government-held areas in Hodeidah and neighboring Taiz provinces.
The Houthis captured the strategic port of Mocha on Thursday, pushed south into the Bab al-Mandab area on Friday, and seized Mayun Island at the heart of the strait, tightening their grip on the vital shipping chokepoint linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The group subsequently advanced farther south toward Lahj province, 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 the following year in support of the internationally recognized government. ■
