Yemeni army says it recaptured positions in Taiz and Al-Hudaydah amid clashes with Houthis

Mohammed Sameai and Tarek Chouiref

The Yemeni army said Sunday that it recaptured positions in Taiz and Al-Hudaydah governorates during clashes with the Houthis that left more than 20 members of the group killed or wounded.

The Yemeni Armed Forces Media Center said troops carried out large-scale operations on several fronts, retaking positions, securing new ones and repelling infiltration attempts.

The army launched a three-pronged attack on the Al-Barh front earlier Sunday, retook positions in Al-Kadha west of Taiz and secured new positions south of Al-Hudaydah, according to the statement.

It later repelled a Houthi infiltration attempt on the Al-Dhabab front west of Taiz.

The fighting also caused significant losses to the Houthis’ military equipment, the army said.

Yemeni warplanes also struck Houthi positions in Al-Barh, southern Al-Hudaydah and the western outskirts of Marib province.

Further airstrikes targeted Houthi positions and gatherings in Al-Labanat, Al-Alam and Al-Jawf governorate, with the army claiming heavy personnel and equipment losses.

Yemen had been under a relative lull since April 2022 after nearly 12 years of war between government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who seized control of the capital Sanaa and large parts of the country in 2014.

Since late 2023, after the war in the Gaza Strip began, the Houthis have become increasingly involved in regional hostilities, launching attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, while recent renewed fighting has raised fears of a return to full-scale conflict in Yemen.