Escalation in Yemen widens, approaching the Bab al-Mandeb Strait

Yemeni government forces said on Thursday they had repelled a large-scale attack by the Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) on the Tur al-Baha front in Taiz and Lahj provinces. At the same time, airstrikes were launched against Houthi positions and equipment.

Tur al-Baha’s military command said in a brief statement that its forces repelled the attack on all sectors of the front and destroyed “all advancing echelons,” without specifying the number of dead, wounded or the number of forces involved.

In a separate statement, it was reported that government aircraft carried out six strikes on Houthi positions and equipment on the al-Aqbush, al-Akhkum and Haifan fronts in the south of Taiz province.

At the same time, the military command of Taiz reported heavy fighting in the Bani Bakari area in the Jabal Habashi district, in the Humayr sector in the Maqbana district in the west of the province, as well as in the al-Akhroud sector southeast of Taiz.

In parallel with the Yemeni army, the Houthis are being attacked in response to attacks on their territory by Saudi Arabia: Houthi spokesman Yahya Saria accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out 51 airstrikes and missile attacks in the previous 24 hours on Houthi-controlled areas in the provinces of Marib, Saada, Amran, Hodeidah and Taiz.

According to Saria, the strikes were carried out by F-15 fighters taking off from the Khamis Mushait airbase, and the missiles were launched from the areas of Najran and Jizan. He said communications networks and civilian objects were targeted. Saudi authorities have not yet commented on these allegations.

As fighting escalates, Yemen’s government has written to the UN Security Council, warning in a letter Wednesday evening of a possible threat to civil aviation over the southern Red Sea. The government said the Houthis were using Iranian air defenses that could stay in the air for up to 25 minutes and called on the Security Council to take urgent action.