Yemen | Dozens dead in fighting between Houthis and government troops

People are horrified after a suspected Saudi airstrike on a market in Taiz. Photo: Imago/Xinhua In Yemen, fighting between the Houthi militia and the Saudi-backed government military coalition continues unabated. Eyewitnesses reported heavy explosions in the capital Sanaa and clouds of smoke that were then seen near the presidential palace.

The Al-Masirah television station, which is said to be close to the Houthis, reported attacks by Saudi Arabia on the capital, which is held by the Houthis, as well as on the provinces of Saada, Taizz and Amran. The broadcaster did not provide details about the targets of the attacks or possible damage.

Over the course of Friday it became apparent that there were a large number of victims. According to both sides, dozens of people were apparently killed in the fighting near Yemen's third largest city of Taizz. In the past 24 hours, 55 militiamen fighting against the government were killed in the Taizz area, Houthi military circles said on Friday. The Yemeni government, for its part, announced the deaths of 26 government troops to the AFP news agency.

There had recently been fierce fighting around the large city in the southwest of Yemen, which is still under the control of government troops. The Houthis have so far failed to take the country's third largest city, which is home to more than half a million people. 

Previously, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting alongside the official government in Yemen against the Houthi militia said it had intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles and four drones over the towns of Khamis Mushait and Jazan in southern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen. During the night, another ballistic missile was fired towards Khamis Mushait.

Military coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki wrote on Platform X that measures to deter the Houthi militia were continuing. Jazan is central to the Saudi energy infrastructure; important oil facilities are located near the city. They had already been attacked by the Houthis before. Khamis Mushait has an air force base. Saudi Arabia's civil defense reported "limited property damage" from falling debris in the province of the same name.

Previously, Al-Maliki on X had also accused the Houthis of attacking an electricity distribution station in the Saudi city of Medina. The Prophet's Mosque is there. Medina is therefore considered the second holiest site in Islam. The Houthis rejected the accusation. A military source described it as baseless and a "gross fabrication," according to the rebel-controlled Saba news agency.

The military coalition led by Riyadh against the pro-Iranian Houthi militia spoke on Thursday of a "cowardly attack on civilian infrastructure that supplies the Prophet's mosque in Medina with electricity." As a result, the attack occurred on Tuesday. He joins "the attempts of this extremist militia to target the two holy mosques and to deliberately provoke millions of Muslims through attacks on Mecca and Medina," the statement continued.

Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, at a press conference in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) Photo: Imago/ABACAPRESS Recently, the Houthis have put increasing pressure on the Saudi government through attacks on oil facilities and an important Saudi pipeline. Around three weeks ago they also captured the strategically important port city of Mokha on the west coast of Yemen. In doing so, they control an important access to the Bab Al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea and want to prevent Saudi oil tankers from passing through the strait in order to make it more difficult for the oil-rich kingdom to export to Asia.

Due to the recent escalation in the war, the chairman of Yemen's Saudi-backed Presidential Council, Rashid Al-Alimi, called for a broad mobilization of the population in the fight against the Houthis exactly a week ago. Yemenis should rally behind and join the government army and security forces. He promised an amnesty for defectors from the ranks of the Houthi fighters. The aim is to restore institutions and extend state sovereignty to the entire country up to the capital Sanaa. With agencies

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