Yemen: Days of fierce fighting in southwest Yemen have killed more than 300 people and forced hundreds of families to flee as Houthi rebels push toward a strategic Red Sea corridor.
Two military officials with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces told AFP that 84 troops were killed between midday Saturday and early Sunday, most in missile attacks. Four Houthi military sources said 57 rebel fighters were killed during the same period.
The fighting has focused on routes leading toward the Red Sea, marking the deadliest escalation in Yemen since a fragile ceasefire collapsed in July.
The Houthis launched an offensive Thursday to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, which has faced weeks of attacks, and advance toward areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping passage at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
A government military official told AFP that Houthi forces succeeded Saturday evening in “cutting off the road linking Taiz to Mokha.”
Fighting in the Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi districts of Taiz governorate has driven families into displacement camps.
Families from the two districts took refuge Saturday at Al-Bareen camp for internally displaced people. AFP journalists on Sunday saw displaced residents arriving at another camp with mattresses, livestock and other belongings as they set up makeshift shelters.
“The shooting came at us from above and from below,” said Rawdhah Hasan, who fled Maqbanah.
“They surrounded us from every direction, we fled with our children without even putting on our shoes,” she said.
Nimah Saif, who was displaced from Jabal Habashi, said residents saw people killed and wounded but were unable to help them.
“Some people were injured and others were killed. We saw them lying on the ground, but we could not help anyone,” she said.
“Now we are stranded here, hungry, with nothing to eat,” she added.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday that about 1,790 households had been displaced following “intense shelling and clashes” in Maqbanah and Jabal Habashi.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the ongoing military clashes,” warning of “devastating political, economic and security ramifications for Yemen and its people.”
A military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, based in Aden, said fighting had eased in the early hours of Sunday.
The official said government forces had established positions north of Hays after advancing in the area. Hays is a frontline district less than 30 kilometers, or about 19 miles, inland from the Red Sea coast.
Houthi forces, meanwhile, had advanced west of Taiz and south of Hays as they pushed toward Bab al-Mandab, the official said.
An AFP tally based on military and medical sources from both sides put the death toll at more than 300 combatants, along with some civilians. The figures could not be independently verified.
The offensive has raised fresh concerns that Yemen’s fragile ceasefire could collapse completely.
Farea Al-Muslimi, a Middle East expert at the London-based Chatham House think tank, said the Houthis appeared to be exploiting weak points around Mokha to disrupt links between Taiz, Mokha and Bab el-Mandeb.
“If they have a chance to fully take over Bab el-Mandeb, they won’t hesitate for a second,” he said.
Adam Baron, a fellow at the U.S.-based New America think tank, said the offensive had “shattered much of what was left of Yemen’s tenuous ceasefire.”
“Things increasingly appear to be on a path to escalation with few potential off-ramps,” he said.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a critical shipping route linking Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal. Its strategic importance has grown amid wider regional tensions and disruptions to maritime traffic.
A fragile truce between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government collapsed in July after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to Sanaa, triggering a series of attacks.
The Houthis have since announced a maritime blockade targeting Saudi Arabia and begun attacking Saudi-linked ships and territory.
The renewed fighting threatens to deepen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis while increasing pressure on a vital maritime corridor connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
