Yemeni government forces strike Houthi positions, down five drones

ADEN, Sept 13: Yemeni government forces carried out airstrikes against Houthi positions, personnel and military equipment and shot down five drones belonging to the group amid renewed fighting across the country, military sources said Sunday.

The Yemeni Armed Forces’ media center said military aircraft conducted three strikes against Houthi positions and barracks in Al-Taba Al-Sawda and Jabal Al-Munim on the Al-Dhabab front in southwestern Taiz province.

The army-affiliated September Net website separately reported that airstrikes targeted Houthi personnel, military equipment and vehicles in the coastal city of Dhubab and on northern fronts.

The strikes destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed Houthi fighters, the report said, without providing specific casualty figures.

Meanwhile, the government-aligned Nation’s Shield Forces said its 6th Brigade shot down five Houthi drones in the Al-Aghbara area on the Al-Wazi’iyah front, west of Taiz, during clashes.

The latest developments come amid significant shifts in territorial control as fighting between government forces and the Houthis, which intensified in early July, continues.

The Houthis have claimed control of several districts in the western coastal provinces of Al-Hudaydah and Taiz, as well as Red Sea islands, including Mayyun Island in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Government forces, meanwhile, have reported advances in the northern province of Al-Jawf near the Saudi border and said they were moving toward the provincial capital, Al-Hazm.

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