Aden, September 7, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
At least 117 people have been killed in four days of intense fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi group in the western provinces of Taiz and Hodeidah, according to medical officials.
A senior medical official accompanying government forces on the western coast frontlines told Xinhua news agency, on condition of anonymity, that 54 government soldiers had been killed and many others wounded since the fighting began on Thursday.
Two medical sources at Houthi-run hospitals in western Hodeidah province said 63 Houthi members had also been killed during the same period, taking the reported combined death toll to 117.
Yemeni government warplanes carried out airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Hodeidah and Taiz on Friday as government forces battled a major Houthi offensive near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The strikes came amid heavy fighting across several fronts in the two provinces, where Houthi fighters had reportedly made rapid advances over the preceding 24 hours.
The medical official said the government aircraft targeted Houthi positions and movements in areas where ground combat was underway. Details of the strikes and any resulting casualties were not immediately available.
A government military official told Xinhua that government forces also recaptured several key positions in western Taiz during a swift overnight counterattack, hours after Houthi fighters had seized them.
The latest escalation is among the most intense ground fighting reported in western Yemen in recent years, raising concerns about a broader return to large-scale hostilities after a period of relative calm on several frontlines.
Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
The renewed clashes underscore the fragile security situation in the country, where competing forces continue to battle for control of strategically important territory.
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