The Yemeni army said on Saturday that it had carried out 71 operations targeting Houthi positions, reinforcements and military gatherings across the southwestern province of Taiz amid an escalation in fighting.
Army spokesman Col. Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili said the operations targeted what he described as Houthi combat formations and military buildups in several areas, including al-Aqrood, Sama’, al-Ahkum, al-Akboush, Jabal Rasin, Jabal Jardad, Bani Omar, Bani Bakari, al-Kaawash and al-Athawir.
Al-Nuzaili said a number of transport and support vehicles were destroyed and Houthi fighters were “neutralized,” but did not provide casualty figures.
There was no immediate response from the Houthis to the army’s claims.
The announcement comes amid intensifying clashes between government forces and the Houthis in Taiz. On Friday, six civilians, including two children and a woman, were injured when Houthi artillery fire struck residential neighbourhoods in central Taiz, according to Yemen’s state-run Saba news agency.
The Yemeni army also reported heavy fighting on the northern front of Taiz city on Friday and said it had carried out dozens of airstrikes against Houthi movements, reinforcements and positions across the province.
Separately, Yemen’s Interior Ministry announced that Maj. Gen. Mohammed Salem Abdullah al-Khawlani, chief of staff of the ministry’s Emergency Forces, was killed during clashes with Houthi fighters on the al-Kadaha front in Taiz.
The latest fighting forms part of a broader military escalation that began in July, described as the most extensive outbreak of hostilities since the relative calm that followed the UN-brokered truce in April 2022.