Fresh Yemen clashes kill more than 60: military, medical sources

One medical source in the government-held city of Taiz said a missile strike also killed six civilians travelling by bus and wounded seven others. A government official blamed the strike on the bus, travelling between Taiz and the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in Aden, on the Houthis.

In Taiz, a military officer said the “coming hours will be decisive” after the Houthis seized positions near the city a day earlier.

The officer added that reinforcements had been arriving from Aden in response to the Houthi offensive, which aims to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandeb strait. On Friday, the fighting killed 129 people, from several sources.

With Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships, the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint has gained importance as a transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude. A military official three airstrikes by Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the government in Aden, had targeted positions recently captured by the Houthis in Taiz.

In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and Yemen’s government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to the capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.

The fighting between the Houthis and government troops supported by US ally Saudi Arabia signals the emergence of a new front in the wider Middle East war, which broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The Houthis have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have begun targeting its ships and territory.