SANAA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group said Friday that Saudi Arabia had carried out 14 airstrikes and missile attacks across four Yemeni provinces over the past 24 hours, as fighting between the Houthis and government forces continued on multiple fronts in southwestern Yemen.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement posted on social media platform X that F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from the Saudi air bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif, along with missiles launched from the southern Saudi region of Najran, targeted areas in the Yemeni provinces of Taiz, Amran, Marib and Saada.
Sarea said the latest attacks brought the total number of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes and missile attacks since the current escalation began to 1,032.
The Houthi figures could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the claims.
Meanwhile, fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis continued on multiple fronts across the southwestern province of Taiz and neighboring southern Lahj province on Friday, a Yemeni military official told Xinhua.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two sides were engaged in continuing back-and-forth clashes and hit-and-run operations, with control of some frontline positions repeatedly changing hands.
Separately, Yemeni government forces said in a statement posted on X on the same day that a drone strike on Houthi positions along the Al-Kadha front in western Taiz province killed seven Houthi fighters and wounded several others.
The fighting has intensified across Taiz and Lahj following recent Houthi advances near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as government forces seek to halt further Houthi gains toward strategic highlands overlooking the key maritime waterway.
The Bab al-Mandab, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, is one of the world's key maritime chokepoints and an important route for international trade and energy shipments.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of the country's north, forcing the internationally recognized government out of the capital. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in the conflict in March 2015 in support of the government. ■
