Houthis report 28 airstrikes as fighting intensifies across Yemen

Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed that 28 airstrikes targeted three provinces over the past 24 hours as fierce ground fighting between Houthi fighters and Yemeni government forces continued on several fronts.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on Sunday that F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from Saudi air bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif carried out strikes in Taiz in southwestern Yemen, oil-rich Marib in the northeast and Al-Jawf in the north.

Sarea said the total number of airstrikes since the latest escalation began had reached 760. Saudi Arabia has not immediately commented on the figures.

Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that an airstrike also hit a telecommunications tower in Al-Jawf, while areas of northern Saada province near the Saudi border came under artillery fire.

The airstrikes came as government troops and Houthi fighters continued to battle for control of positions in southwestern Yemen. A government military source told Xinhua on Sunday that government forces had recaptured several positions in western Taiz, although the overall front lines remained largely unchanged amid intense fighting.

The latest escalation follows a series of Houthi advances along Yemen’s southwestern Red Sea coast. The group seized the port city of Mocha in Taiz province on September 10 before advancing south to capture Dhubab and Mayyun Island, strategically located in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, on September 11.

Government forces are now attempting to halt further Houthi advances towards the strategic waterway, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

Yemen’s conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.

The latest fighting represents the sharpest escalation in the conflict since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 brought a broad halt to major hostilities.