AL-MUKALLA: Heavy fighting between Yemeni troops and Houthi militia has broken out in the southern city of Taiz after government forces attacked rebel positions on the city’s outskirts, a local military official said on Saturday.
Government troops intensified attacks on Friday on Iran-backed Houthis occupying the western and eastern edges of the city after the militia stepped up mortar fire on residential areas in the city’s downtown.
“The fighting has not stopped for the past seven years. But the aim of the latest attacks is silencing weapons that fire shells of death,” Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni military officer in Taiz, told Arab News by telephone.
At least 30 Houthis were killed or wounded, while several army soldiers are believed to have died in fierce fighting, he added.
Yemen’s Defense Ministry said that troops repulsed Houthi attacks in the Al-Ahbout area, west of Taiz.
Residents said that the militia fired mortar and artillery shells at civilian areas in government-controlled downtown and eastern sections of the city, triggering explosions.
There were no confirmed reports of casualties.
After failing to storm the center of Taiz since 2015, the Houthis have positioned themselves on the city’s outskirts, targeting densely populated residential areas with heavy weapons.
Essential food and humanitarian supplies have also been blocked from reaching the besieged population.
The Houthi siege has forced residents to use rough and dangerous mountain roads to leave or enter the city.
In Hajjah province, the Houthis intensified drone strikes on Yemeni troops in Haradh and Abes as the rebels try to drive government forces out of the two districts.
Local media said that the Houthis have fired at least five explosive-laden drones at government forces in the past 24 hours as part of militia counterattacks to seize back areas controlled by loyalists.
Fighting erupted as warplanes from the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen carried out air sorties in Hajjah, targeting Houthi military equipment and positions.
A Houthi military leader, Ghazi Amen, died in an airstrike, local media said, while Yemeni troops also suffered casualties in the fighting.
Yemen’s Defense Ministry on Friday arranged a funeral procession for Brig. Yahyia Haykal Al-Sumaini, chief of the Fifth Military Region’s Armament Division, and several soldiers killed in clashes with the rebels in Hajjah.
The Coalition’s warplanes also targeted Houthis in flashpoint sites south of the central city of Marib, where government troops are seeking to drive the rebels away from the city.
