Sanaa: Forces aligned with the Ansarullah, commonly known as the Houthis, pressed their assault on the city of Taiz in central Yemen with fierce fighting reported in the hills and highlands surrounding the city. Taiz is currently held by forces of the Saudi backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), which is the internationally recognised government of Yemen but is not in control of almost half the country's territory.
PLC Armed Forces spokesman Majid al Nuzaili said Thursday that units targeted Houthi positions in Mocka and Taiz provinces without providing specifics. Al Nuzaili said PLC troops had reopened the vital Hayjat Al Abd road linking Aden and Taiz after pushing back Houthi forces trying to gain control over vital logistics routes.
"Our forces confronted the attacking elements and engaged them in clashes that thwarted the infiltration attempts, forced them to retreat and inflicted losses in personnel and equipment," he added.
PLC forces also said they shot down at least one Houthi drone over Taiz, but eyewitnesses reported explosions in other parts of the city and neighbouring areas.
The latest attacks are part of a Houthi attempt to consolidate recent gains along Yemen's western coast, including in the Mocka governate, where they overran the strategic port city of Mocka on the Red Sea in a lightening offensive that stunned PLC forces. The new front has allowed them to pressure Taiz from the west and the north forcing the PLC to redeploy troops from a planned offensive into Houthi territory further east.
This comes as Houthi drones and missiles also targeted positions in southern Saudi Arabia that they say are used to resupply PLC forces. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said Thursday the group had conducted a "preemptive military operation" that "targeted operations, command and control rooms, weapons depots and other sites in Al Tuwal in Jazan, as well as positions and missile launch platforms at Al Daghareer camp."
Saudi coalition aircraft launched ten airstrikes on different positions across the front line, but the extent of the damage was unclear.
