Yemen government forces, Houthis renew fighting in Marib, Taiz
At least three members of Yemen’s Houthi group were killed in government strikes on Saturday [Getty]
Renewed exchanges of fire between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces have intensified across several front lines, with drone strikes, shelling and attacks on civilian areas reported in Taiz and Marib.
Three members of Yemen’s Houthi movement, including field commanders, were killed in government drone strikes west of Taiz on Saturday. According to Yemen News Agency (SABA), government drones targeted vehicles believed to be linked to the Houthi group along the Maqbanah front, an active military zone in the Maqbanah District of western Taiz governorate.
A military source cited by the state news agency said Houthi commander Mohammed al-Shalabi was killed, alongside the wounding of his brother Mahmoud al-Shalabi and field commander Burhan al-Abdali, who were targeted in one of the strikes on Jabal al-Zuhaib, a prominent landmark in the district.
A second strike targeted a Houthi position in the Al-Zaghloul area of the Al-Araf mountainous region, resulting in further deaths and injuries among the group’s ranks, the source said.
The escalation in Taiz coincided with a Houthi attack on the city of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa.
On Saturday evening, the group launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones towards the city, reportedly hitting residential neighbourhoods and displacement camps, according to local sources, wounding civilians and damaging homes and vehicles.
A spokesperson for the Yemeni armed forces announced that two Houthi drones had been shot down over the city, while government forces also released footage showing what they claimed was artillery fire targeting Houthi positions on Marib’s western front, along with drone strikes aimed at Houthi vehicles.
This comes as political parties and organisations in Taiz have called on the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the executive body of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and local authorities to take decisive action against what they described as the escalating threat posed by the Iran-backed Houthis.
They called for the government to pursue a military campaign and open new fronts, including by launching an offensive on Houthi-controlled Sanaa in light of the group’s military escalation across the country.
The statement comes following particularly damaging Houthi attacks on the port of Mokha, near the strategic Bab el-Mandab Strait, which the parties said was an attempt to disrupt essential supplies and further tighten the siege and pressure on the Taiz governorate. In the statement, they warned that such attacks would worsen the already dire humanitarian and economic conditions of the population in the area.
The latest escalation comes amid heightened regional tensions following the US and Israeli war with Iran, fuelling concerns of a possible return to large-scale conflict in Yemen.
Major fighting in the country had largely subsided after a UN-brokered truce in 2022, but efforts to reach a lasting political settlement have since stalled.