UPDATE 3 – Yemeni army launches airstrikes on Houthi missile launchers, weapons depots in Taiz

ADDS DEATHS OF YEMENI ARMY OFFICERS IN TAIZ CLASHES

By Mohammed Sami, Ikram Kouachi and Sahin Demir

SANAA, Yemen / ISTANBUL (AA) – The Yemeni army launched airstrikes on Houthi missile launchers and weapons depots in Taiz province in the country’s southwest on Thursday, according to state television.

Yemen Satellite Channel said the attacks hit several Houthi positions, including missile launchers, radars, military communications systems and weapons depots in the western, southern and eastern parts of Taiz.

Also, Yemen’s Interior Ministry said Thursday that Houthi shelling caused extensive damage to a mosque and a school in Taiz province.

In a statement posted on US social media company X, the ministry said Houthi forces fired shells at a mosque and a school in Al-Najd village in the Mashra’a Wa Hadnan district, south of Taiz.

The ministry reported significant material damage but did not specify whether there were any casualties.

The official Saba news agency, citing a local source, said several shells struck the Omar al-Tayyar Mosque and School in the village.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis on the claims.

Separately, the Yemeni army announced Thursday that two officers and an unspecified number of soldiers were killed in clashes with Houthi forces in Taiz.

In a statement, the army’s 35th Armored Brigade mourned Col. Mahfouz al-Jaradi, the brigade’s training officer, and Capt. Mamoun al-Jaradi, along with other soldiers whose names were not disclosed.

The brigade said they were killed during fighting on the Al-Aqroud front in southern Taiz, without providing further details.

Taiz has seen rising escalation since July amid fighting between government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi fighters.

Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed Thursday that the group had carried out four military operations targeting sites in Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and drones over the past 48 hours.

In a statement posted on US social media company X, Saree said the attacks targeted the Saudi Defense Ministry building in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu and Abha International Airport.

He claimed that the strikes directly hit their targets, disrupted operations at Dammam airport and caused a fire at the Aramco facility in Yanbu.

Saree also claimed that Saudi forces had carried out more than 2,900 airstrikes and missile attacks over the past 100 days, killing or injuring more than 562 people.

Since Oct. 5, Yemeni government forces have been conducting Operation "Dawn of Yemen," which Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi said aims to regain control of state institutions from the Houthis and recapture the capital Sanaa.

Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several other provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.

The Houthis control much of northern and western Yemen, while government forces and their allies hold Aden and large parts of the country’s southern and eastern provinces.

Şahin Demir