SANAA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group said Wednesday that Saudi forces had carried out 51 airstrikes across five Yemeni provinces over the past 24 hours, while the Yemeni government said Houthi attacks had killed five people in the southwestern province of Taiz.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on social media platform X on Wednesday that Saudi F-15 fighter jets from Khamis Mushait Air Base, along with missile units in the Saudi border regions of Najran and Jizan, launched the attacks.
Sarea said the strikes hit areas across the provinces of Marib, Saada, Hodeidah, Taiz and Amran, including telecom networks and other civilian infrastructure, bringing the group's tally of Saudi air attacks since the current escalation began to 1,209.
Saudi Arabia has yet to comment on the latest Houthi claims.
Separately, five people, including a child, were killed and several others wounded in two attacks in Taiz on Wednesday, which the Yemeni government blamed on the Houthis, Legal Affairs Minister Eshraq Almaqtari said in a statement on X.
The latest attacks came amid continued clashes between Houthi and government forces on several fronts in the southern province of Lahj and neighboring southwestern Taiz province, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital shipping route linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Hostilities in the area have intensified since the Houthis captured the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Sept. 10 and Mayyun Island, also known as Perim, on Sept. 11, expanding their presence around the strategically important waterway.
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 March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. ■
