SANAA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni government forces said Thursday that 30 Houthi fighters were killed and 50 others wounded in fierce battles in the southwestern province of Taiz.
Pro-government Aljoumhouriya TV channel, citing a military statement, said that the Houthis were killed or wounded during confrontations in the Al-Aqroud area of Al-Misrakh district in southern Taiz.
A Yemeni military official told Xinhua that fierce clashes had been raging since early Thursday across five fronts in Taiz, with both government forces and the Houthi group suffering "heavy casualties."
The official, on condition of anonymity, said the clashes involved intense artillery exchanges and drone attacks.
He added that Saudi warplanes had carried out several airstrikes against Houthi-held positions across Taiz during the day, while government forces stepped up ground operations and mobilized additional forces to reinforce several active fronts.
The latest battles came amid sustained clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis in Taiz and neighboring Lahj province, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic maritime chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Hostilities around the strait have intensified since Houthi forces captured the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Sept. 10 and Mayyun Island, also known as Perim, on Sept. 11, extending the group's presence around the key waterway and shifting some of the fiercest ground battles into the mountainous areas of Taiz and Lahj provinces.
Yemen's conflict erupted 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. The recent Houthi advance marked the sharpest escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities in the war-torn country. ■
