Yemen government forces claims 13 air strikes on Houthi positions

Yemen’s government-aligned armed forces say they have carried out 13 air strikes on Houthi positions, gatherings and vehicles in al-Bayda province.

In a post on X, the media centre of the armed forces said the attacks targeted sites in the districts of al-Sharyah, Dhi Na’im, al-Bayda and al-Sawadiyah. It said a missile-launching platform was also hit.

It added that its aircraft destroyed a command-and-control room and a thermal surveillance system on Jabal Nasa in the Murays front of al-Dhalea province.

It said the strikes also targeted gatherings of Houthi fighters in the area.

Death toll from Yemen clashes tops 300 as civilians flee

More than 300 fighters and civilians have been killed since renewed fighting erupted in Yemen on Thursday, AFP reports, citing a tally based on military and medical sources from both sides.

The clashes have centered on western Taiz and southern Hodeidah, where Houthi forces launched a major offensive towards government-held areas near the Red Sea coast and the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Government officials told AFP that 84 of their troops were killed between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday, mostly in missile attacks. Houthi military sources said 57 of their fighters were killed over the same period.

The fighting has also displaced civilians.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said an estimated 1,790 households had fled heavy shelling and clashes in the Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi districts of Taiz.

Yemen’s Houthis claim shooting down Saudi CH-4 drone over al-Jawf

Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree says the group’s forces shot down a Saudi CH-4 armed reconnaissance drone over al-Jawf province.

Saree said the aircraft was carrying out “hostile activities” over the Khabb wa ash Sha’af District when it was brought down with an unspecified weapon.

Yemen’s Houthis claim to have shot down Saudi drone

The Houthi military spokesman says a Saudi Arabia-owned Wing Loong II armed reconnaissance drone was shot down as it conducted “hostile operations” in al-Bayda governorate.

“It was targeted with appropriate weaponry,” said a statement by Yahya Saree on Telegram. “This is the third drone shot down in the past 24 hours.”

The rebel group declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in July in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait after accusing Riyadh of blockading the territory it holds in Yemen.

The Houthis controlled the port city of al-Makha, which overlooks the Bab al-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, before being driven out in 2017 by government forces and Saudi-led coalition.

WHO data outlines escalation of hostilities in Yemen

From the World Health Organization’s latest situation report:

• Hostilities intensified in the early hours of September 3 in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi districts in Taiz, followed by heavy fighting along the Hodeidah-Taiz coastal front on September 4-5 .
• There were 676 casualties reported over the last three days alone, exceeding the entire cumulative toll of 402 reported through September 2.
• An estimated 21,000 people have been displaced since September 3, including the complete evacuation of displaced persons sites in al-Hajab, al-Rajehi, and Hajjat Gabeh.
• Out of the recently displaced people, about 2,685 are women and girls including 240 pregnant women who need immediate access to life-saving reproductive health services.

Yemen government forces taking the fight to the Houthis

The map of Yemen since the early hours is being redrawn with fire and steel as clashes have broken out in more than five provinces.

The main front line that’s being opened right now is in al-Jawf, which is northeast of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Half of the province is run and operated by the internationally recognised Yemeni government. The other half is controlled and operated by the Houthis. However, government forces are putting up an offensive, and this time they’re the ones striking first.

Over the past couple of days, the Houthis have advanced in western Taiz and southern Hodeidah and are trying to take over the city and the Red Sea coastline of al-Muha.

Instead of always being on the defensive, government troops now seem to have shifted strategy to an offensive mode, taking the fight to the Houthis and striking their positions.

However, this is not just a war on the battleground, it’s also a media war. Both sides are posting videos on social media, and some seem to be from the previous conflicts that took place between 2015 and 2021.

So a lot of misinformation is being spread by both sides, and a lot of people are confused about who’s taken which governorate and which side is advancing.

Air attack on prison reported in Houthi-controlled area in Yemen’s al-Jawf province

Warplanes have struck the central prison in the Houthi-controlled al-Hazm district, in western Yemen’s al-Jawf province, according to media affiliated with the country’s Houthi rebels.

Separately, footage released by Houthi media purports to show Houthi forces striking trucks loaded with military supplies at the Al-Wadi’a camp near the Yemen-Saudi border, using locally made ballistic missiles.

The attack took place at the Al-Wadi’a border crossing in Hadramout province, on the Yemeni side of the frontier with Saudi Arabia.

Yemen seeing ‘all-out war’ between Iran-allied Houthis, Saudi-backed government

The short-term goal for the Saudi-backed Yemeni government is to prevent the Houthis from taking over the port and city of al-Makha [Mocha]. If the Houthi group captures that city, it could essentially lead to a full takeover of the southern areas that are under the Yemeni government’s control.

On the other hand, if the Yemeni government forces manage to outpower Ansar Allah’s control in the governorate of al-Jawf, it could lead to further territorial losses for the Houthis in the north and that’s very dangerous for the group.

They don’t want to give up any territory, because that would mean opening a gateway towards, potentially, the Yemeni capital. And of course, if the Ansar Allah Houthis are in danger of losing the Yemeni capital, that would raise the morale of the internationally-recognized Yemeni government forces and it’s perhaps actually leading to an all-out war.

What we are seeing right now is an all-out war. Five, six fronts have opened across the country and it’s a fight where the winner takes it all.