Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of airstrikes as fighting escalates across Yemen

Sanaa, Sep 7 (AHN) Yemen's Houthi group on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes and cruise missile attacks across several provinces of the war-ravaged country, as an escalating battle with government forces spread to multiple fronts.

"The Saudi enemy targeted the provinces of Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Marib and Taiz with several airstrikes and cruise missiles," Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah TV reported, without giving details on casualties or damage.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group had "managed to shoot down a Saudi CH-4 reconnaissance drone" over Khabb wa ash-Sha'af district in the northern province of Al-Jawf on Monday.

Saudi Arabia has yet to comment on the accusation, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, Yemeni government forces said in a statement that their warplanes carried out 13 strikes earlier in the day against Houthi positions in the central province of Al-Bayda.

On Monday, government forces launched a new offensive in Al-Jawf, advancing toward the Houthi-held Al-Labanat military base east of the provincial capital Al-Hazm. A military official told Xinhua the operation aims to divert Houthi forces from Taiz and Hodeidah, where four days of fierce fighting have killed at least 117 fighters on both sides.

In western Yemen, the Houthis have pressed an offensive to sever key roads linking Taiz with the government-held Red Sea port of Mocha and advance toward the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, while government forces have launched counterattacks and rushed reinforcements to the frontlines.

The widening battles mark some of the heaviest ground fighting in western Yemen in recent years, raising concerns of a broader return to large-scale hostilities after years of relative calm across many of the country's frontlines.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

–AHN

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