Yemeni government forces say they repelled a large-scale Houthi attack near Taiz

Yemen’s government forces say they have repelled a “large-scale” attack by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, as Al Jazeera reports in its updated liveblog on the Iran war.

The media center of the Tur al-Bahah axis, which belongs to the government forces, wrote on Facebook that “our forces repelled a wide Houthi attack on all fronts of the axis and annihilated all of its attacking formations,” without giving further details.

The announcement comes after six airstrikes that the government forces said they carried out against Ansar Allah (Houthi) positions in the al-Akboosh area and on the battlefronts in the Haifan district, southeast of Taiz. There are no official reports yet on the consequences and damage.

Yemen’s front has escalated significantly in recent weeks, with the Houthis taking control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait and striking targets in Saudi Arabia, while the Saudi coalition and government forces have intensified airstrikes — a clash that directly threatens one of the world’s most important maritime routes.