OMM Redaksiyası
At least two civilians, including a 14-day-old infant, were killed and seven others injured in separate shelling incidents blamed on Yemen’s Houthi group in Taiz province on Friday, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms said.
The rights group said a woman was killed when a shell hit a home in the Al-Turbah area. In the rural Al-Dhabab area, a 14-day-old infant, Mohammed Muheeb Saeed Abdo Qassem, was killed and a 2½-year-old child, Ahmed Aref Abdo Qassem, was injured.
Shelling hits residential areas
The infant was taken to Al-Thawra General Hospital with shrapnel wounds to the head and was pronounced dead, the group’s field team said. The other child suffered shrapnel wounds to several parts of his body.
Separately, local sources told state-run Saba news agency that Houthi artillery targeted residential areas in the Old Airport and Wadi al-Qadi neighborhoods in central Taiz city. The shelling injured six civilians and damaged several homes, the sources said, adding that it caused fear among residents. The Houthis did not comment on the reports.
Clashes reported on several fronts
Earlier on Friday, Yemen’s army said intense clashes were taking place with Houthi forces on the northern front of Taiz city, with fighting continuing on several other fronts in the province.
The army said its warplanes carried out 20 strikes over three hours against Houthi movements, reinforcements, gatherings, fighters and military vehicles in Humair, Bani Bakari, Samea, Al-Aqrud, 60th Street, Al-Amour, Midi Bani Hassan and Al-Wazi’iyah.
Government forces separately announced strikes against “high-value targets” in Sanaa and 11 targets in Saada province. Air defences said they had shot down Houthi suicide drones over the interim capital, Aden, before they reached civilian areas.
Escalation follows months of fighting
The latest clashes represent the broadest military escalation between government forces and the Houthis since Sept. 10, when the group seized the strategic city of Mokha near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the report said.
The escalation began in July and is the largest since the relative calm that followed a 2022 truce. Fighting intensified in September, with the Houthis taking several key locations in Al Hudaydah and Taiz provinces, including Mokha, and advancing to Mayun Island, which overlooks the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several provinces in 2014. A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.
