Confrontations between Yemeni and rebels Huthis kill over 60 people

Dand according to three Yemeni military sources, cited by the agency France-Presse (AFP), 26 soldiers of government forces died after several hours of fighting in southwest Yemen.

Medical and military sources linked to the Huthis, pro-Iran, point to 31 dead rebel fighters.

According to the French news agency, a government - controlled medical source in the city of Taiz killed six civilians traveling on a bus and injured another seven.

Intense fighting broke out on Thursday, after the Huthis launched a ground offensive supported by rocket fire and drone attacks near the Red Sea coast and the Taiz region.

A balance sheet released on Friday and based on data from military and medical sources pointed to more than 120 deaths since Thursday in clashes between Yemeni troops and Huthis rebels.

On the same day, AFP reported that, according to government military sources, the rebels were attempting to isolate the port city of Mokha — north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and targeted attacks several weeks ago — from the rest of the government-controlled areas.

The Huthis do not currently control any area directly in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but control the port city of Hodeida to the north.

In July, they announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, for which Bab el-Mandeb became the only maritime route since Iran closed the Strait of Ormuz on the other side of the Arabian peninsula at the start of the Middle East war at the end of February.

The war in Yemen began in 2014, when the Huthis launched a major offensive from their bastion in Saada, a region in the north of the country, near the border with Saudi Arabia, and took control of large extensions of territory, including the capital Sana.

Yemen was the scene of a devastating conflict between government forces, supported by Riyadh, and the rebels between 2014 and 2022, when a ceasefire came into force.

The country plunged back into the war in July, dragged by the new conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran, which spread throughout almost the Middle East.

The Huthis are part of the so-called axis of resistance, formed by political and armed groups supported by Iran, alongside Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shia militias in Iraq.