Saudi warplanes carried out 19 airstrikes over 24 hours on Houthi-held areas across Yemen, causing casualties including women and children, the Houthis said late on Tuesday.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea stated that the latest attacks bring the total number of Saudi-led airstrikes and missile raids to 936 since the recent escalation of hostilities began two months ago.
The latest strikes come amid a renewed escalation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia which continues to lead a coalition supporting Yemen's government forces against the Houthi fighters.
Also on Tuesday, Yemeni government forces repelled a Houthi attack in the Ash Shamayatayn district in southwest Yemen's Taiz that day, killing 12 Houthi fighters and wounding dozens of others. Four government soldiers were killed and several others wounded in the same fighting, according to a local government official.
For their part, the Houthis said in a statement that their military operations along Yemen's western coast, particularly in Taiz and Hodeidah province in the west, had killed or wounded more than 600 government troops in recent days and weeks.
The rugged areas of western Taiz and southern Lahj provinces have emerged as key battlegrounds, as government forces seek to halt further Houthi advances and prevent the group from consolidating control over highlands overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and a vital route for international shipping.
Yemen's conflict dates back to late 2014, when the Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and large swaths of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015in support of the internationally recognized government.
The latest round of fighting broke out in mid-July, when the Yemeni Armed Forces struck Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport to prevent an Iranian passenger plane from landing.
Houthis report 19 Saudi airstrikes in one day
