Yemen Fighting Rages Across Four Provinces

(MENAFN) Fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi movement raged across four provinces Wednesday, killing several people, including civilians, in the country's most widespread military escalation since 2022.

Clashes and attacks were reported in the western provinces of Taiz, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Al-Hudaydah, while government forces sent reinforcements to Mokha, a strategically vital coastal city near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The government-aligned Giants Brigades said its forces carried out "precise strikes" against Houthi fighter positions along the western coast, releasing footage showing vehicles and fighters under fire, though the exact location was not disclosed.

In a separate statement, the Giants Brigades said its forces struck a Houthi vehicle in central Al-Bayda province, killing everyone inside. The forces also said Tuesday evening that they had shot down a Houthi drone on the Al-Bayda front, without specifying the drone type.

In western Al-Hudaydah province, the government-run provincial media office said two civilians from the villages of Dar al-Harbi and Mahwa Yassin were killed by Houthi mortar fire in Hays district.

Houthi advance repelled in Taiz
Government forces beat back a Houthi push toward Al-Wazi'iyah district in Taiz province, district chief Ali al-Dhrafi said, according to the government-aligned 2 December news agency.
Al-Dhrafi praised local residents for standing alongside government forces, saying they would not allow the Houthis to take control of the district again.

Al-Wazi'iyah holds strategic weight due to its proximity to Bab al-Mandab, a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

In southwestern Al-Dhale province, government forces repelled a Houthi assault in the Murais area before launching a counterattack on Houthi positions along the same front, according to state-run TV channel.

Separately, Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman al-Lahji, commander of the government-aligned Nation's Shield Forces, arrived in Mokha leading reinforcements for active front lines, the military media wing of the government-aligned National Resistance Forces reported.

Escalation without precedent since 2022
The renewed violence marks the broadest confrontation between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis since 2022, when a UN-brokered truce largely halted major hostilities. That truce lapsed, and fighting resumed in July of this year.

Combat has surged in recent days across multiple fronts — notably Taiz, Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda — accompanied by airstrikes on Houthi positions.

The violence has also spread into neighboring Saudi Arabia. Riyadh said Tuesday that Houthi attacks on civilian and economic sites in the southwestern cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran injured 73 civilians, including women and children.

The Houthis, who are accused of receiving Iranian backing, claimed responsibility for striking facilities belonging to Saudi energy giant Aramco as well as an air base, using dozens of ballistic missiles and drones.

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

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