Fighting resumed in Taiz and Yemeni airstrikes on Houthi positions in the West Bank.

Clashes have resumed between government forces and the Ansar Allah “Houthi” group in Taiz, and the Yemeni army said today, Saturday, that warplanes had carried out 15 strikes on the West Bank and Hodeidah.

Violent fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis in western Yemen’s Taiz and Hodeidah provinces yesterday, Friday, left dozens dead and injured and displaced hundreds of civilians.

Yemeni media reports that government forces are beginning to attack Houthi positions in “Jabal al-Watara” between Taiz and Lahji governorates, confirming renewed clashes between government forces and the Houthis on various battlefronts.

In turn, a statement from the Yemeni Army Media Center said that the warplanes of the armed forces carried out more than 15 airstrikes on the facilities, gatherings and vehicles of the Houthi militia in the governorates of Taiz and Hodeida in the West Bank.

Warning about “hard drain”.

The head of Yemen’s Presidential Command Council, Rashad al-Alim, warned on Friday that any Houthi venture into the Bab al-Mandab Strait would turn into a “cruel drain” on them, according to a source in al-Alim’s office, as supreme commander of the armed forces.

According to the source, al-Alim and members of the command council are monitoring “the development of the field situation and the progress of military operations on the Taiz governorate front, amid the escalation of the terrorist Houthi militia, which is supported by the Iranian regime.”

Al-Alimi held the Houthis “fully responsible for the humanitarian consequences of their escalation and the violations they have committed against civilians, including the displacement of hundreds of families from conflict zones,” accusing them of disregarding Yemeni lives and insisting they make their children and regions “fuel targets.”

Al-Alim emphasized that the state and armed forces “will not under any circumstances allow the Iranian regime to achieve its goal of controlling the Bab al-Mandab Strait.”

He emphasized that “any adventure towards these areas will turn into a brutal extermination of the terrorist militias.”

Dozens dead

Al-Alim’s warning comes amid violent fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis, which has left dozens dead and injured and displaced hundreds of civilians, the Yemeni government said on Friday.

Agence France-Presse, citing sources on both sides, reported that more than 120 people were killed on Thursday and Friday in what they described as the most violent clashes in years.

The agency also quoted a senior Yemeni military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying the death toll of government forces since Thursday had risen to 66, while medical and military sources close to the Houthis said at least 62 militants had been killed.

The developments come amid a military escalation between government forces and the Houthis in western Yemen, which has included clashes and attacks with ballistic missiles and drones.

Clashes between government forces and the Houthis have resumed since early July in several governorates, including Marib (central) and al-Jawf (north), as well as al-Daliyah and Taiz, after a lull that lasted from April 2022 following a war that began about 12 years ago between government forces and the capital, which controlled several cities. Sana’a, from September 21, 2014.