Clashes between the parties in Yemen have intensified on several fronts, particularly in the Taiz, Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda governorates. Military tensions between government forces and the Houthis continue, as they have in recent years, while Houthi positions have also been targeted by airstrikes.
Two people killed in Hayis district
The Hudaydah Governorate Media Office, affiliated with the government, said two people from the villages of Dar al-Harbi and Mahwa Yasin were killed in a mortar attack carried out by the Houthis in Hayis district, south of Hudaydah.
The Giants Brigades, affiliated with the government, announced that attacks had been carried out against locations where Houthi elements had gathered amid clashes on the western coast. The statement did not identify the locations of the attacks but included footage showing Houthi militants and military vehicles being targeted.
The Giants Brigades also said that a Houthi vehicle had been hit in Al-Bayda governorate and that the people inside it had been killed. The brigades had also announced the previous evening that they had shot down a Houthi unmanned aerial vehicle in Al-Bayda.
Clashes in Al-Wazi’iyah and Murays
According to a report by the December 2 agency, run by Yemen’s government-affiliated National Resistance Forces, the Yemeni army prevented Houthi forces from advancing into Al-Wazi’iyah district in Taiz governorate.
Ali al-Zarafi, director general of Al-Wazi’iyah district, said the district’s residents were standing alongside the armed forces in the fight against the Houthis. Al-Zarafi said they would not allow the Houthis to retake the district.
Following developments in Al-Wazi’iyah, which is strategically important because of its proximity to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a Yemen government-affiliated television channel reported that the army had repelled a Houthi attack in the Murays area of Al-Dhale governorate. The same report said government forces had launched a counterattack against Houthi positions after the assault.
Military reinforcements sent to Mokha
Abdulrahman al-Lahiji, commander of the government-affiliated Nation’s Shield Forces, arrived in the city of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait to strengthen the campaign against the Houthis on the western coast.
Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, had announced that 73 people were injured in Houthi attacks, backed by Iran, on civilian and commercial facilities in the Saudi cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran.
Control situation in Yemen
The Houthis have controlled the capital, Sanaa, as well as parts of Yemen since September 2014. The Saudi-led coalition has supported the Yemeni government since March 2015.
