SANAA/RIYADH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg on Thursday urged Yemen's Houthi group to halt its military offensive in the southwestern province of Taiz, warning of mounting risks to civilians as some of the fiercest fighting in the country's latest escalation spread across the province.
"I am alarmed by developments in Taiz governorate, where fighting has significantly intensified," Grundberg said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
Grundberg said his office had received "deeply troubling reports of casualties, damage to infrastructure, and road closures" that were restricting people's ability to leave affected areas.
"Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected," Grundberg said, adding that he remained in close contact with both the Yemeni government and the Houthis on steps to urgently contain the situation and ensure freedom of civilian movement.
The UN warning came after heavy fighting erupted earlier on Thursday across several fronts in Taiz, where Yemeni government forces said 30 Houthi fighters were killed and 50 others wounded in battles in Taiz.
Separately, a Yemeni military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua on Thursday that fierce clashes had raged nonstop from the early hours of the day into the evening across five fronts in the province, with both sides suffering "heavy casualties."
Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a separate statement posted on X on Thursday that Saudi warplanes and missiles had carried out 47 attacks over the previous 24 hours in Taiz, Saada and Al-Jawf provinces.
Also on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles and four drones launched by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait and Jazan in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
The latest attacks came amid continued clashes between Houthi and government forces on several fronts in the southern province of Lahj and neighboring Taiz, 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. ■
