Airstrikes hit three Yemeni provinces as rival forces battle for key positions

• Yemen’s Houthis claimed that 28 airstrikes struck three provinces within 24 hours as clashes with government forces continued.

• The group said the strikes targeted Taiz, Marib and Al-Jawf, but Saudi Arabia had not responded to the claims.

• Government forces are attempting to halt further Houthi advances towards the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed that 28 airstrikes hit three provinces within 24 hours as fighting with government forces continued across several fronts.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on Sunday that F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from the Saudi air bases of Khamis Mushait and Taif carried out the strikes.

According to Sarea, the attacks targeted the southwestern province of Taiz, the oil-rich northeastern province of Marib and the northern province of Al-Jawf. He claimed that 760 airstrikes had been conducted since the latest escalation began.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment on the figures.

The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel earlier reported that a telecommunications tower in Al-Jawf had been struck. It also said areas of northern Saada province near the Saudi border had come under artillery fire.

The reported aerial operations coincided with continued clashes between Houthi fighters and forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government in the southwest of the country.

A government military source told Xinhua news agency that its forces had regained several positions in western Taiz on Sunday. However, the broader front lines were said to have remained largely unchanged amid intense fighting and repeated shifts in control.

The Houthis have made significant territorial gains along Yemen’s southwestern Red Sea coast in recent days. The group seized the port city of Mocha in Taiz province on 10 September before advancing southwards to capture Dhubab and Mayyun Island on 11 September.

Mayyun Island lies in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategically important passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Government forces are attempting to prevent the Houthis from advancing further through the mountainous approaches to the waterway.

Yemen’s conflict erupted in late 2014 after the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, and gained control of large parts of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.

The Houthis’ latest territorial advance represents the most significant escalation since a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 led to a broad reduction in major hostilities.

With IANS inputs