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Taiz front repelled
Yemeni government forces said they repelled a Houthi attack on positions along the al‑Mafalis front, south of Haifan, in the southeastern part of Taiz province, as escalation spikes in several governorates.
“the terrorist Houthi militias suffered heavy losses”
An official of the Tor al‑Bahah military axis, affiliated with government forces, said the army’s 4th Infantry Hashd Brigade repelled the attack and that “the terrorist Houthi militias suffered heavy losses.”
A spokesman for the government forces, Waddah al‑Dubeish, said their air defences engaged reconnaissance drones belonging to the Houthis in the skies over al‑Makha (Mocha) in the southwest of the country.
The same report said Yemeni state television reported several Houthi fighters were killed and wounded in artillery shelling by government forces against the group’s gatherings and reinforcements around al‑Fakhir market in the northern part of al‑Dhalea Governorate.
Yemen’s head of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al‑Alimi, said, “From now on, there will be no action undertaken by the Houthi militias without a comprehensive response or deterrence.”
Mokha port strike
In western Yemen, Yemeni media reported renewed missile shelling by the Houthi group that targeted the Mokha Port, while the Yemeni Army announced thwarting an attack on one of its positions in the Al-Ruqh front in western Taiz Governorate.
The spokesperson for the West Coast Liberation Operations of the government forces, Wadha Dubish, said initial information points to civilian casualties from a strike that hit fishing boats near the port, and he added that a fourth missile fell in the area, preventing the completion of rescue and evacuation operations.
The military media of the National Transitional Council said the Houthis targeted the country’s western coast with 36 ballistic missiles and 42 drones, and it said 11 missiles and drones were shot down before reaching their targets.
In Taiz, the Yemeni Armed Forces Media Center quoted a military source saying the Houthis pushed large numbers of their militants in an attack using artillery, mortars, and drones, and it said intense clashes resulted in the death and injury of dozens of Houthi fighters.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged restraint, saying, “I call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and spare the Yemeni people from further misery.”
Deterrence and civilian risk
The UN Human Rights Office said at least 17 civilian casualties from Houthi attacks were reported in government-controlled areas since August 6, and it also recorded two casualties in Houthi-controlled areas in late July.
“These attacks must end immediately”
It cited a Houthi missile striking the Jaw al-Naseem camp for internally displaced people in Marib on August 7, injuring six civilians including a child, and it said missile and drone attacks on Mokha port in Taiz governorate on August 9 killed three port workers and wounded four others.
The UN office said it was verifying reports of further attacks on the port on August 14 and 15 that may have caused civilian casualties, and it said an attack on a cargo ship in the Bab al Mandeb Strait on August 11 reportedly killed four crew members, three Pakistanis and one Indonesian.
In parallel, Yemen’s National Defense Council warned of further what it called “painful deterrence operations” against the Houthis, ordering the expansion of aerial and missile deterrence operations against sources of threat.
Volker Turk also warned that “These attacks must end immediately,” and he said strikes on civilian infrastructure risk worsening suffering in Yemen, where at least 18 million people are already facing food insecurity.