Published : 03 Oct 2026, 11:26 PM
Updated : 03 Oct 2026, 11:26 PM
Yemen’s army has claimed that nearly 500 military operations killed or wounded 1,540 Houthi fighters in the past 24 hours, as government forces launched missile, drone and artillery strikes on Houthi positions, including in Sanaa.
Loud explosions were heard in Yemen’s Houthi-held capital on Saturday, while military spokesman Col Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said the armed forces were carrying out operations against “legitimate vital military targets” in Sanaa, according to Al Jazeera.
Earlier, al-Nazili said most of the casualties were recorded in Taiz governorate, where government operations had halted the Houthi advance.
The government-held city of Taiz has become a focal point of the renewed fighting.
The army spokesman did not give any figure for casualties among government forces.
Intense fighting was continuing on several fronts around the city, with some of the fiercest clashes on its western outskirts, the Qatari broadcaster said.
The Houthis have used a heavy volume of fire during the assault, with continuing artillery fire, particularly from Houthi positions, targeting western areas, it added.
Residents have reportedly been appealing for evacuation as shelling continues.
Civilians have also been killed in the fighting, including an infant in Dhubab who died from shrapnel wounds after a shell hit a residential area, Al Jazeera said.
On the Samea front, the Houthis made advances on Friday in the mountainous area, with “fierce” clashes continuing between government forces and the Houthis.
Several field sources told the broadcaster that large numbers of residents had left Samea, with the exodus reportedly taking place on a scale not seen in more than a decade.
Key Border Crossing Closed
The government has closed the al-Houban crossing in Taiz over security concerns following an attempted Houthi infiltration, attacks nearby and a military build-up, an army official told Al Jazeera.
The crossing, which links Houthi-held al-Houban with government-held Taiz city, had reopened to civilians in 2024 after nine years of closure.
A 2022 truce collapsed in July, with fighting intensifying since then. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.
