Yemen's Army Claims 700 Houthis Killed in Hundreds of Strikes
Yemen's Army Claims 700 Houthis Killed in Hundreds of Strikes
Yemen's internationally recognized government forces said on Oct. 3 that they had carried out 257 operations against Houthi positions across several fronts, claiming at least 700 Houthi fighters were killed and 170 military vehicles and assets destroyed. The figures are army claims that could not be independently verified.
The military said the operations used warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and rocket launchers against Houthi positions, personnel gatherings, reinforcements and military capabilities. Spokesman Maj. Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said the strikes stretched across fronts from southern Haradh and the coast to Kitaf, Al-Jawf, Marib, Al-Bayda, Lahj, Sanaa and Saada.
A day earlier, the same spokesman announced a separate tally: 474 operations in the previous 24 hours, with 1,540 Houthi fighters killed or wounded and 216 military vehicles destroyed or damaged, most of the casualties reported on the Taiz fronts. The army said the operations halted Houthi advances in Taiz and prevented a ground breakthrough.
In a further development, Reuters reported early on Sunday that Yemen's armed forces were conducting strikes against the Houthis in the capital Sanaa and the group's stronghold of Saada, targeting what a spokesman called "vital targets" without further details. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that Saudi Arabia had carried out strikes on Sanaa; there was no immediate Saudi confirmation.
The escalation is part of a military offensive that began in early July, described by the Yemeni army as the largest since the relative calm that followed the April 2022 truce. The trigger, in part, was the Houthis' July declaration of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, followed by attacks on Saudi territory and Red Sea shipping and territorial gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast.
Late last month the Houthis claimed missile and drone strikes on an Aramco facility near Riyadh, while the Saudi-led coalition accused the Houthis of striking a power station in Medina — the front line has spread from inside Yemen onto Saudi soil.
The most immediate victim of the spillover is Red Sea shipping. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the strategic waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, is under growing threat as the Houthis advance along the coast. On Sept. 21, Group of Seven foreign ministers called on Iran to stop arming and supporting the Houthis and urged the group to halt military operations and attacks on civilian shipping. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt separately reaffirmed Riyadh's right to self-defense under international law and stressed freedom of navigation. The Middle East Eye reported that Pakistan had sent four planeloads of weapons to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
More escalation may be coming: Israeli media reported that Saudi Arabia is planning a 100,000-troop ground offensive to retake control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while Axios reported that Washington will not join such an offensive.
A final caution applies to all battlefield tallies in this war: casualty figures announced by either side have no independent verification. The Houthis did not immediately comment on the army's latest claims, and the UN-brokered path to a political settlement is receding further with every airstrike.