Yemen Offensive Deepens as Civilians Face Shortages

Eight soldiers loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government died in heavy clashes on the al-Maqatirah front in Lahij governorate, the government-affiliated Tur al-Bahah military axis said on Saturday. Fighting intensified across several fronts. Humanitarian agencies warned that civilian conditions were worsening.

Fighting across Yemen

In Taiz governorate, government troops said they killed 12 Houthi fighters in al-Aqroud after days of fighting on the outskirts of Taiz city. Saudi Arabia-backed government forces said they repelled Houthi advances and inflicted heavy losses on the group. They also said they broke a Houthi attack on the al-Shaqab front.

Government-aligned Homeland Shield Forces reported that they destroyed a Houthi supply vehicle with a drone in al-Wazziyah. The Southern Giants Brigades said they carried out precision strikes on Houthi positions in al-Madaribah, near the Lahij border.

Government troops and allied Popular Resistance fighters kept up an offensive in al-Jawf and Marib. Military officials reported artillery barrages and drone strikes against Houthi military positions, barracks and troop assemblies in al-Jawf, while coalition aircraft bombed Houthi command hubs and supply depots. In Marib, government artillery and missile units also targeted Houthi lines.

The war escalated sharply last month, after the Houthis—an armed group also known as Ansar Allah—seized strategic territory from forces loyal to the internationally recognised government along the Red Sea coast. Government forces backed by Saudi Arabia responded with a counteroffensive and launched the “Dawn of Yemen” operation, aimed at recapturing Houthi-held territory, including Sanaa, the capital the group seized in 2014.

Civilian displacement and health crisis

The International Organization for Migration said fighting had displaced more than 233,000 people since the escalation, including about 121,000 in Taiz governorate. The World Health Organization warned that Taiz city had become functionally isolated.

The city’s 12 hospitals had fuel for only four days. They had no surgical supplies and faced critical shortages of oxygen and medicine, the WHO said. A cholera outbreak was also growing in Taiz.

The UN Refugee Agency said more than 4,000 refugees had reached East Africa: 3,800 in Djibouti and roughly 200 in Somalia. At Djibouti’s Markazi camp, UNHCR reported a cholera outbreak. Health workers were treating 31 cases, and one death had been recorded.

Attacks and regional tensions

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group’s air-defence forces had brought down a Saudi reconnaissance drone over Hajjah governorate. He identified it as a Turkish-manufactured Lentatek Karayel and said it was the fourth of its kind downed since the latest escalation began. The Houthis also claimed they shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter in Najran.

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed in Najran because of a technical malfunction, killing two crew members. Houthi media reported 10 Saudi air strikes on sites in Saada governorate.

Off the coast of al-Mukalla, at least seven armed men aboard a skiff attacked a liquefied natural gas tanker, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said. The men fired two shots; the tanker’s onboard security detail returned two warning shots, and the attackers changed course and disengaged.

A separate live update said a tug boat was struck by two projectiles off the UAE coast, according to UKMTO, and that drones were intercepted over Riyadh and the Eastern Province. OIC foreign ministers were meeting in Baghdad, with regional crises on the agenda. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran backed a “political process” to resolve the Saudi-Houthi conflict.