Yemeni army claims 50 Houthis killed, injured after thwarting attack in western Yemen

Mohammed Sameai, Rania Abushamala and Lina Altawell

The Yemeni army said on Thursday evening that 50 members of the Houthi group were killed or injured after it thwarted an attack aimed at taking control of a road linking the cities of Taiz and Mocha in western Yemen.

The army’s Taiz Axis command said the Houthi attack targeted the Maqbanah and Al-Kadhah fronts and aimed to seize control of the road linking Taiz and Mocha in western Yemen.

Taiz Axis forces and the government-aligned National Resistance launched a joint counterattack targeting Houthi positions on the Al-Kadhah and Maqbanah fronts, it said.

The statement said the clashes left 50 Houthis dead or wounded, without providing further details.

Earlier in the day, the Yemeni army announced that it had captured military positions from the Houthis following clashes in the southwestern province of Taiz.

Clashes broke out early Thursday after the Houthis attempted to attack army positions on several fronts in the Maqbanah district, west of Taiz, unnamed military sources told the army-run September Net news website.

The fighting “developed into intense, direct clashes at close range, during which various types of heavy, medium and light weapons were used,” the sources said.

Army forces repelled the attacks and forced Houthi fighters to retreat from several positions, they added.

Military units subsequently launched a counteroffensive against Houthi positions on the Maqbanah and al-Kadhah fronts, according to the sources.

The Taiz front witnessed a military escalation on Thursday, including attacks involving ballistic missiles and drones as well as ground clashes in al-Kadhah, Maqbanah and Mawza districts in the western part of the province.

The escalation is among the most significant rounds of fighting in Taiz since a UN-brokered truce in 2022, amid UN warnings over the risk of Yemen sliding back into a wider conflict.

The Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa and other cities since September 2014, while the internationally recognized government and allied forces control large areas in the south, east and west of the country.