Yemeni airstrike targets Houthi reinforcements west of Taiz

ADEN, Sept 17: A Yemeni airstrike targeted Houthi reinforcements at a junction west of Taiz, a senior official at Yemen’s Information Ministry said Thursday.

Fayyad Alnoman, assistant undersecretary at the Ministry for Television Affairs, said on X that local sources reported the strike hit Houthi reinforcements at the Al-Dharifah junction in Al-Wazi'iyah district, west of Taiz.

Alnoman earlier cited field sources as reporting clashes between Yemeni government forces and Houthi fighters on the Al-Anin and Bilad Al-Wafi fronts in Jabal Habashi district.

The Houthis have not immediately commented on the reports.

Western Taiz has witnessed intensified fighting in recent weeks. Yemeni government forces said Wednesday that they had targeted Houthi positions, barracks and personnel on the Al-Kadha front, while airstrikes also struck Houthi positions and gatherings in other areas west of Taiz.

Fighting between government forces and the Houthis has intensified since early July, ending a period of relative calm that had largely prevailed since a UN-brokered truce took effect in April 2022.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.