Yemeni government forces retake positions near Taiz, repel Houthi advance

Yemeni government forces have retaken several front-line positions west and south of the city of Taiz from Houthi fighters, a military commander announced on Monday. Major General Abdulaziz al-Majidi, chief of staff of the Taiz military force, told the state news agency Saba that soldiers and allied tribal fighters “liberated a number of areas” on the outskirts of the key city after clashes with Houthi ground forces.

According to al-Majidi, the Houthis suffered losses in personnel and equipment during the fighting, while government forces repelled a Houthi advance aimed at tightening the siege of Taiz — Yemen’s third-largest city, which has been divided along front lines between the internationally recognized government and the Houthis since 2015.

According to the Saba agency, government forces also carried out airstrikes against Houthi gatherings, destroying several military vehicles and causing the explosion of a medium-caliber ammunition depot; at least 10 armed Houthi members were killed in the strikes.

The developments come as the Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia, pledged to strengthen its military presence along the Red Sea coast amid escalating clashes with the Houthis. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi forces carried out airstrikes in several Yemeni provinces, including Taiz, Lahj, Al Jawf, Hajjah, Al Bayda and Saada, over a 24-hour period — while the Houthis carried out ballistic missile and drone strikes against a military base in the Saudi city of Sharurah.

The fighting is part of the violent escalation that began in July, when the Iran-backed Houthis reignited the civil war and opened a second theater of war in the broader conflict between the US and Iran, threatening the UN-brokered ceasefire that had largely halted large-scale violence since 2022.

Source: Al Jazeera — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/9/21/iran-war-live-tehran-warns-us-against-new-strikes-fighting-rages-in-yemen ; Terror Monitor — https://terrormonitor.com/post/yemeni-forces-recapture-positions-west-of-taiz-amid-escalating-houthi-clashes