SANAA, Yemen — At least 141 fighters have been killed in renewed clashes between Yemen’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in southwestern Yemen, according to military and Houthi sources.
The deaths occurred between Saturday afternoon, September 5, and early Sunday, September 6, as fighting intensified across several front lines, particularly in Taiz and Hodeidah provinces and along the Red Sea coast.
Two military officials from Yemen’s government forces said at least 84 government soldiers were killed during the clashes, with most reportedly dying in rocket attacks. Meanwhile, four Houthi sources said 57 of their fighters were killed during the same period.
The escalation marks one of the deadliest episodes of fighting in Yemen in recent years.
Yemen’s government forces said Sunday that they had recaptured the strategically important district of Hays, south of Hodeidah, from the Houthis. The district lies near a key road linking Hodeidah with Taiz and Ibb provinces.
Government forces also launched a counteroffensive in the neighboring Al-Jarahi district and claimed to have captured dozens of Houthi fighters. Fighting and attacks were also reported around Taiz and Lahj.
The latest escalation comes after years of relative calm following a UN-brokered truce in 2022. Although the formal ceasefire expired later that year, the agreement helped prevent a return to full-scale nationwide warfare.
However, fighting has intensified in several provinces in recent weeks, raising concerns that Yemen’s fragile period of relative stability may be coming to an end.
According to Yemen’s military, government forces carried out at least 15 airstrikes on Friday, September 4, targeting Houthi positions, vehicles and gatherings in Taiz and Hodeidah. The strikes reportedly followed a major Houthi operation toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategically important maritime passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
The renewed violence has also triggered fresh civilian displacement. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said nearly 1,800 families were displaced over two days following the escalation in Taiz.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 after the Iran-backed Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government out of the city. Saudi Arabia led a military coalition that intervened in the conflict the following year.
The Houthis continue to control Sanaa and large parts of northern and western Yemen, while the internationally recognized government and allied groups control much of the country’s south and east.
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