DUBAI: At least 18 combatants have been killed in battles between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels in the country’s southwest, two military officials said on Thursday.

The clashes on Wednesday were triggered by a Houthi attack on a frontline area between government-controlled parts of Lahij governorate and Houthi-run parts of Taez province, said Mohammed al-Naqib, a spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council, a separatist group allied with the government.

The attack came despite a lull in fighting that has largely held since the expiry of a six-month truce brokered by the United Nations in April 2022. Yemeni government “forces succeeded in repelling the attack, but five soldiers were martyred and others wounded”, Naqib said.

A Houthi military official in Taez said that 13 rebels, including a senior commander, were also killed in the fighting. Yemen’s internationally-recognised government condemned the Houthi offensive as a “treacherous attack”.

In a statement on social media platform X on Wednesday, Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the counterattack by Yemeni government forces “inflicted heavy losses on (Houthi) militia members”, without specifying a toll.

While hostilities have remained low, sporadic fighting has occasionally flared in parts of the country. In April, a surprise Houthi attack killed 11 fighters loyal to the Yemeni government in Lahij province.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2024