TAIZ, Yemen — More than 60 people, including civilians, have been killed in renewed fighting between Yemen’s internationally recognised government forces and Houthi rebels, as clashes intensify across Taiz province and parts of the country’s western coast.
Government forces have been engaged in heavy fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis in several areas, with some of the fiercest clashes reported in Taiz and Hodeidah provinces and along the western Red Sea coast.
According to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, Yemeni forces said they had recaptured the district of Hays in southern Hodeidah, an area linking the provinces of Hodeidah, Taiz and Ibb.
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, said the country’s armed forces were capable of restoring full government control over national territory.
He warned the Houthis that they would “face the consequences” of their actions and said Taiz would not become a “gateway” for those supporting the group, an apparent reference to Iran.
Al-Alimi also said what he described as the Houthis’ “miscalculations” would ultimately lead to the group’s “complete destruction”.
The latest fighting follows a series of clashes that erupted last week, involving ground battles and air strikes between government forces and the Iran-backed rebels.
Fayad al-Numan, deputy secretary of Yemen’s Information Ministry, said government forces had also captured dozens of Houthi fighters during fighting in the nearby al-Jarahi district.
Government forces later launched a counterattack in the area, according to al-Numan.
Yemeni forces have also continued strikes against Houthi positions in Taiz and Lahj provinces.
Yemeni media reported that military drones struck Houthi reinforcements south of al-Jarahi in coordination with a ground offensive.
Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that heavy explosions were heard in Taiz as fighting continued. Yemen’s Defence Ministry has also introduced new military arrangements, according to the report.
Yemeni military spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nozaili said government forces had targeted a Houthi position in the province in response to what he called the group’s “violations and escalation of hostilities”.
The renewed fighting has taken a heavy toll on civilians.
More than 60 people, including civilians, were killed in clashes in Taiz on Saturday, according to AFP.
Yemen’s state news agency Saba, meanwhile, reported that Houthi shelling of a civilian gathering along the road linking Taiz and Aden killed four civilians and wounded nine others.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said around 1,800 families had been displaced over the previous two days as fighting intensified in Taiz.
The escalation comes as Yemen remains divided between the internationally recognised government and the Houthis, who seized control of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large parts of the country’s north and west.
The conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with millions of Yemenis dependent on humanitarian assistance.
The Yemeni government has also warned that any Houthi move towards the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a strategic maritime passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, would face a “strong response”.
