Fresh Yemen clashes kill more than 60: report

Fighting between Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces and the country's Houthi rebels killed more than 60 people on Saturday, including civilians, medical and military sources told AFP.

The renewed clashes in Yemen's southwest, over control of a gateway to the Red Sea, followed some of the deadliest fighting in years on Friday, after a 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July.

How many people were killed in the fresh Yemen clashes?

More than 60 people were killed on Saturday, according to medical and military sources. Three Yemeni military sources said 26 government troops died during several hours of fighting in the country's southwest, while sources from the Houthis said 31 rebel fighters were killed. A missile strike also killed six civilians travelling by bus, according to a medical source in Taiz.

One medical source in the government-held city of Taiz said the missile strike wounded seven others on a bus travelling between Taiz and Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government. A government official blamed the strike on the Houthis.

What is happening in Taiz and Hays district?

In Taiz, a military officer said the "coming hours will be decisive" after the Houthis seized positions near the city a day earlier. The officer said reinforcements had been arriving from Aden in response to a Houthi offensive aimed at cutting off the government-held port city of Mokha and advancing towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab strait.

In Hays district, 68 kilometres northwest of Taiz towards the Red Sea coast, AFP journalists saw government forces being ferried to the front lines in pickup trucks, some carrying assault rifles and others with rocket-propelled grenades slung over their shoulders. Hays resident Rashed Maghari said "there has been heavy Houthi shelling on Hays and its residents, but the district is tough" and will be hard to capture.

Why has fighting escalated in Yemen since July?

On Friday, the fighting in Yemen killed 129 people, according to an AFP tally compiled from several sources. In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and Yemen's government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to the capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.

The fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and government troops supported by Saudi Arabia signals the emergence of a new front in the wider Middle East war, which broke out in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The Houthis have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have begun targeting its ships and territory.

Why does the Bab al-Mandab strait matter?

With Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint has gained importance as a transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter of crude. A military official told AFP on Saturday that three Saudi airstrikes had targeted positions recently captured by the Houthis in Taiz.