Fresh clashes in Yemen kill 97 combatants: military sources

Nearly 100 fighters have been killed in renewed clashes between Yemen’s Houthis and government forces in southwestern Yemen, military sources from both sides told AFP on Tuesday.

At least 63 Houthi fighters and 34 pro-government combatants have died, mostly near the Bab al-Mandab strait, the Red Sea’s strategic southern chokepoint, they said.

The clashes, which began with airstrikes late on Monday, are the fiercest since the Iran-allied Houthis seized swathes of territory from the Saudi-backed government in a lightning offensive last month.

The Houthis fought off “an attempted advance by Saudi enemy forces… from the southern direction of Bab al-Mandab”, military spokesman Yahya Saree posted on X, describing “a large number of dead and wounded”.

The Houthi military sources said Saudi Arabia carried out dozens of airstrikes, hitting Mayyun Island in the strait as well as Dhubab and Mocha further up the Red Sea coast.

Government military sources said intense fighting was underway in the Bab al-Mandab area, claiming they had made progress on the ground.

Earlier this month, Yemen’s government launched a counter-offensive with Saudi air support to try to reclaim the territory lost to the Houthis.

But the campaign has faltered, while the Houthis have ramped up deadly attacks on Saudi Arabia that shuttered its capital’s airport for two weeks and disrupted daily life.

Riyadh leads a military coalition that first intervened in 2015 in the conflict, which has devastated Yemen and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.