Full story
Taiz, al-Mokha offensive
Yemeni government forces clashed with Houthi fighters across several fronts west of Taiz province as the Iran-backed group launched a broad offensive along the western Red Sea coast, with Houthi fighters attempting to advance to reach and cut the road linking Taiz to al-Makha (Mocha).
“Houthi fighters on Thursday attempted to advance to reach and cut the road linking Taiz to al-Makha (Mocha)”
Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, said taking control of the port city of al-Makha would cut off government forces from a strategic supply route and give Houthis a foothold in the Red Sea, adding, “In order to do that, they must drive out Yemeni government forces.”
Yemen’s Army Media Centre said Houthis fired 14 ballistic missiles and launched drones at populated districts in the provinces of Taiz and Hodeidah, and it said more than 18 Houthi fighters were killed while others were wounded or captured in clashes on Thursday.
AFP reported that an unnamed military source said 13 government forces were killed in the fighting, while a field officer in al-Makha told AFP his men were “fighting fiercely to repel the massive Houthi offensive” and said they thwarted an attack with two booby-trapped boats that exploded near the port.
Displacement and competing tolls
As battles reached Jabal Habashi, Abdullah Saeed, 47, fled his home in the Maqbanah district west of Taiz in 2022 and settled in al-Rahabah camp in the Jabal Habashi area 90km (55 miles) south, but he described how Houthi attacks forced him and hundreds of families to flee again after fighting erupted suddenly at night.
Saeed told Al Jazeera, “Fighting erupted suddenly at night. We were far from the battlefield, but in the morning, we were shocked to see the frontlines near our camp,” and he said, “We have fled for the second time, but there are also families who fled for the first time.”
In a separate account, Al Jazeera Net said more than 80 people were killed in clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis since Thursday, citing sources from both sides to Agence France-Presse, with a Yemeni military official saying 24 government troops were killed near the western coast and another official reporting 15 more killed in Taiz.
Al Jazeera Net also reported that medical sources in areas under Houthi control said at least 42 militants were killed, while it added that no official tolls had been released yet by either the Houthis or the Yemeni government.
Road, port, and wider stakes
The fighting was framed as an effort to isolate Taiz from the coast and the Mokha port, with Al Jazeera’s Mawry saying both sides were “scrabbling to gain territory and gain control not just on land, but at sea,” and he warned that the army had to work to thwart the Houthis’ “fierce advancement.”
““Both sides are now scrabbling to gain territory and gain control not just on land, but at sea,” the correspondent said.”
Al-Hal Net described the western Taiz escalation as ending with government forces advancing after clashes that began with Houthi infiltration attempts toward positions in Muqbanah District, and it said the military’s media center reported forces thwarted infiltration attempts and made advances in several locations while neutralizing more than 18 Houthi elements.
In the same reporting stream, Al-Hal Net said the escalation’s impact spread to civilians with new displacement waves observed in villages of Muqbanah and Al-Kadhah and in displacement camps amid ongoing shelling, and it linked the attack to a gradual escalation on the western Taiz fronts and the western coast.
Al Jazeera Net later reported that the Houthis sought to disrupt the military scene and seize the initiative by opening new fighting corridors in the east and north of the city, while it said the government forces carried out a surprise raid in the Al-Karifat al-Sufla area and that reinforcements arrived from the Taiz axis, including the 35th Armored Brigade and the 145th Infantry Brigade.