Yemeni government forces say they inflicted ‘heavy losses’ on Houthis in Taiz

Yemeni government forces said Sunday they inflicted "heavy losses" on the Houthis during fierce clashes in Taiz province in southwestern Yemen.

A statement by the government-aligned National Resistance Forces said that government forces were engaged in fierce clashes with the Houthis in the Al-Kadhah sector in western Taiz.

The forces said they inflicted "heavy losses" on the Houthis, without providing details about the nature or scale of the losses.

The Al-Kadhah front is strategically important as it links the cities of Taiz and Mokha in western Yemen.

The clashes came amid an escalation in fighting between government forces and the Houthis in recent weeks.

On Saturday, government forces said they made battlefield advances in the western provinces of Taiz and Al-Hudaydah and captured dozens of Houthi fighters.

Several fronts across Yemen have recently witnessed renewed fighting amid an escalation in reciprocal attacks since July, ending a period of relative calm that had largely prevailed since a UN-brokered truce took effect in April 2022.

The Houthis have controlled the capital Sanaa and several other cities since September 2014, while Yemen's internationally recognized government and allied forces control large parts of the country's south, east and west.