Yemeni forces, Houthis exchange attacks, claim to inflict heavy losses

Fighting continues to rage in Yemen, with forces aligned with the country’s internationally recognised government claiming to have killed and wounded at least 190 Houthi fighters in hundreds of air and artillery attacks.

Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili, a spokesman for Yemen’s government forces, said on Tuesday that the attacks targeted Houthi positions in Lahij, Taiz, Marib, al-Jawf, Hajjah and al-Bayda governorates.

In a statement, he said Yemeni government forces carried out at least 29 air strikes and 39 drone attacks. They also fired 62 rockets and carried out 744 artillery attacks, he added.

“Initial field reports indicate that about 190 Houthi commanders and fighters were killed or injured,” al-Nuzaili said. Up to 130 vehicles and combat assets used by the Iran-allied group were damaged or destroyed, he said.

Al Jazeera could not verify the battlefield claims.

The fighting in Yemen comes amid regional tensions triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, has launched a counteroffensive, dubbed Operation Dawn of Yemen, to retake territory lost to the Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), in September. The Saudi-led coalition has supported the government’s ground campaign with air strikes, and the Houthis have fired missiles at the kingdom, targeting airports and oil facilities.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 1,771 people have been killed in the hostilities in Yemen since August, with at least 7,959 wounded. More than 300,000 people have also been displaced.

The Houthis, for their part, also claimed to have killed and wounded “a large number” of government-aligned fighters in attacks on al-Madaribah and Ras al-Ara areas in the Lahij governorate on Tuesday.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi spokesman, said dozens more government soldiers were killed and wounded in attacks on al-Jawf earlier in the day.

Separately, Saree also accused Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces of launching 109 air strikes and missile attacks on the rebel-controlled capital, Sanaa, as well as on Houthi positions in al-Jawf, Saada, Taiz, Lahij and Marib.

He said the attacks killed and wounded “a large number of women and children”.

The Saudi-led coalition did not immediately confirm the strikes.

Earlier in the day, the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted two missiles fired by the Houthis towards the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, and another aimed at its southern region.

The Houthis said they targeted the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and an Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq in the kingdom’s Eastern province.