Military sources on both sides say 44 killed in a day of fighting in Taiz and Lahj

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ADEN, Yemen — At least 44 people were killed in 24 hours of fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis in Taiz and Lahj provinces, military sources on both sides said.

The tolls were given separately to Xinhua on Saturday by two government military sources and by a Houthi military source. Each accounted for losses on its own side.

A government military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said battles were running across southwestern Taiz and Lahj. Both sides were moving reinforcements toward fronts that stretch to the approaches of Bab al-Mandab, the source said.

In Taiz, fighting continued in the Al-Kadha and al-Waziyah areas, where government forces repelled several Houthi attacks, according to the same source. Six government soldiers and 11 Houthi fighters were killed there.

“The Houthis sent in large reinforcements and tried to break through our defensive lines at several positions, but the attacks were repelled,” the source said.

A second government military official said the fighting was concentrated around the Kahbub mountain area in Lahj. Both sides are contesting high ground that overlooks the routes toward the strait.

That official put government losses on the Kahbub front at 12 soldiers over the same 24 hours.

A Houthi military source told Xinhua that 15 Houthi fighters, including a commander, were killed at Kahbub in the same period.

Neither set of figures could be verified in the field. The two sides issue their own tallies and do not confirm each other’s accounts.

Yemen’s army gave a narrower figure for its own losses. The army-affiliated Tur al-Bahah Military Axis said on Saturday that 13 soldiers had been killed in two days of clashes in Taiz and Lahj, Anadolu reported. The statement gave no further detail.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported from Aden that the heaviest clashes were in the Kahbub mountains and in the Al-Mudaraba and al-Waziyah districts, citing local and military sources.

Government forces and local tribesmen are trying to hold the high ground while the Houthis push reinforcements toward elevated positions, the newspaper said.

Military sources told the paper that government forces, backed by local fighters, stopped a Houthi infiltration attempt in the Al-Aghbara sector of Al-Mudaraba district in Lahj.

The Southern Giants Brigades struck Houthi vehicles and troop concentrations on the Kahbub front with air, drone, artillery and rocket fire, according to those sources.

Field sources cited by the newspaper said a Houthi commander holding the rank of major general was killed along with six of his escorts. They named him as Firaq Mohsen al-Assar, known as Abu Saqr al-Qafr, from Al-Qafr district in Ibb province.

The Houthis have not commented on that account.

The contested ground runs east from the Kahbub range toward Jardad, in al-Waziyah district west of Taiz. The heights overlook the coastal plain that extends toward Ras al-Ara.

Whoever holds them is better placed to move between the coast and the interior, and to fire on positions below.

The sources cited by Asharq Al-Awsat said the Houthis were seeking the heights to shield the areas they already hold and to use them as a starting point for any further push south.

Government aircraft also struck Houthi positions around Jawlat al-Qasr, east of Taiz city, the newspaper said.

Footage filmed by AFPTV on Sept. 10 showed fighters of the Nation’s Shield Forces deployed in the Al-Kadha area west of Taiz.

The fighting follows Houthi gains on Yemen’s southwestern Red Sea coast this month. The group took the port city of Mocha on Sept. 10, then moved south and seized Mayyun, also known as Perim Island, in the strait on Sept. 11, Xinhua reported.

Anadolu reported that the wider escalation began in early July and is the most intense since a truce took effect in April 2022. Fighting spread along the Red Sea coastline in September.

Other fronts have seen renewed combat, including Marib, Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda, according to the same report.

In Marib, government warplanes struck Houthi vehicles and concentrations at the Umm Rish camp and at Aqabat Mala’a in the south of the province, Asharq Al-Awsat said.

Government forces there said they turned back three Houthi infiltration attempts. They also said they destroyed nine Houthi vehicles on the western Marib fronts on Friday.

The two sides also exchanged artillery fire on the Marib fronts, the newspaper said. Other strikes hit Houthi vehicles in the area of operations of the Third Military Region.

Drones flown by the Seventh Military Region struck Houthi concentrations on the northern fronts, according to the same account.

Fronts away from western Taiz and Marib were quieter, the newspaper said, with forces on alert along the lines of contact.

The United Nations has not published a casualty figure for the current round of fighting.

Aid agencies have reported displacement from the western Taiz fronts. UN agencies said this week that 112,000 people had been displaced in two weeks of fighting.

The local authority in Taiz has counted 65,845 people displaced within the province since August.

Yemen’s war began in late 2014, when the Houthis took Sanaa and much of the north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 on the side of the internationally recognised government.