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The BBC dispatch from the front lines near Taiz shows intense exchanges and the movement of frightened civilians attempting to escape the violence in southwestern Yemen. According to the broadcaster, its team documented positions where control of key heights remains contested between the two sides. Al Jazeera reported on September 24 that government forces repelled overnight Houthi assaults in Wadi al-Maqatirah and inflicted dozens of casualties on the attackers in separate clashes at Al Ahkum.
Yemen’s long-running civil war, largely paused by a 2022 truce, has reignited this month with Houthi advances along the Red Sea coast that included capture of the port city of Mocha, Reuters reported. The Iran-aligned group is now battling for the Kahboub Mountains in Taiz and Lahj provinces, terrain that overlooks the Bab al-Mandeb strait and could sever supply lines to government-held areas in the south. Five Yemeni military sources told Reuters the Houthis seek to maintain momentum despite facing hundreds of Saudi air strikes in recent days.
The World Health Organization documented 674 people killed and nearly 3,000 injured nationwide since August 6, with 164 of the deaths and 516 of the injuries recorded between September 13 and 18 alone. A United Nations human rights assessment found that 32 civilians, among them 15 children and three women, have been killed in the latest flare-up, though the office cautioned the true figure is likely higher because of access problems. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement that civilians are now bearing the brunt of this latest upsurge in fighting.
Government-aligned forces spokesman Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili stated that troops had taken full control of Mount Qarfan east of Taiz and thwarted an infiltration attempt at the Kahboub front. The operations form part of a wider effort to reverse Houthi territorial gains along the coast, according to an Al Jazeera analysis. Analyst Ibrahim Jalal told Al Jazeera that the counter-moves have halted part of the Houthi push in the Taiz-Lahj sector while regaining dominant heights.
Yemen’s Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons Camps placed the number of people forced from their homes at 158,000, a tally that has grown rapidly in the past three weeks. The UN migration agency IOM reported that nearly 3,000 others have crossed the Gulf of Aden by boat to reach Djibouti, many leaving camps under sudden bombardment with almost nothing. Reuters correspondents visiting shelters near Aden described families arriving barefoot after abandoning belongings during the chaos.
Health centres and displacement sites have been struck repeatedly, the World Health Organization said, including one incident in Lahj on September 18 that killed an ambulance driver and a medic. The Houthis have accused Saudi forces of carrying out more than 150 air strikes across several provinces in a single day, claims that Saudi officials have denied while asserting that their operations target only military positions. Access limitations have prevented independent verification of many battlefield reports from either side.
