The Yemeni Army announced on Monday that it engaged in fierce battles with the Houthi group and targeted their positions with 12 airstrikes in the city of Taiz in the southwest of the country. This came in three separate posts by the "Taiz Military Axis" affiliated with the Army, published via the "Facebook" platform.
The Axis stated that "the armed forces and popular resistance are engaged in fierce battles with the Houthi group on the front of the old airport west of Taiz city." It added that "the air force of the armed forces targeted Houthi positions in the Dabab area west of Taiz with 4 raids."
It also pointed out that the air force targeted other Houthi positions with 8 raids in the vicinity of Jabal Han and Dabab west of Taiz. In response, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saeed announced in a statement on Monday "the downing of a Wing Loong 2 armed reconnaissance drone."
He claimed that the drone belonged to Saudi Arabia and that it was shot down "with appropriate weaponry while carrying out hostile acts in the airspace of Taiz Governorate." Taiz, the most populous governorate in Yemen, witnesses a division in control, as government forces still control the center of the governorate, Taiz city, and other areas.
In contrast, the Houthis have made progress in rural and coastal areas over the past weeks, including several areas, most importantly Al-Mukha, Ash-Shamitayn, Al-Maafir, Jabal Habashi, and Al-Wazieyah, according to available field data. Unofficial field estimates indicate that Houthi control has expanded to more than 70 percent of the governorate's area, against the retreat of government forces' control scope in the countryside and coast, with disputed areas remaining.
These percentages do not represent an official statistic or a final map of control, amid ongoing battles and shifting contact lines. On Sunday, several fronts in Yemen witnessed military escalation between government forces and the Houthi group, concentrated in the governorates of Taiz and Lahej in the southwest of the country.
Since July last year, military escalation has resumed between government forces and the Houthis in Yemen, particularly in Taiz and Lahej, resulting in the death and injury of thousands of people, according to UN reports. Yemen has been witnessing a war since the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and several governorates in September 2014, before the intervention of an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia in March 2015, in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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