TAIZ — Three Yemeni government soldiers were killed and seven others injured in clashes with the Houthi group in the southwestern province of Taiz, a military spokesperson said Saturday.Wadah Al-Dubaish, spokesperson for the government Joint Forces on Yemen’s western coast, said the casualties were members of the National Resistance forces.Al-Dubaish said in a statement on X that hours-long clashes erupted Friday on the Al-Barh front in western Taiz after Houthi fighters attempted to attack National Resistance positions.He said the attack came from several directions in successive waves and was accompanied by artillery shelling and covering fire, as well as attempts to infiltrate military positions.National Resistance forces responded with counterattacks and ambushes that thwarted the advance, Al-Dubaish said, claiming that an estimated 45 to 55 Houthi fighters were killed, wounded or missing.Several Houthi vehicles and fire-support systems were also destroyed or disabled, while drones were used for surveillance and targeting, forcing the attacking forces to retreat, he added.The clashes came amid renewed tensions around the strategic port city of Mokha. Earlier Saturday, the Yemeni army said a security officer at Mokha Port was killed, two sailors were missing and eight civilians were injured in a Houthi missile attack Friday evening.Yemen’s state-run Saba news agency initially reported that four ballistic missiles struck Mokha Port before later saying six missiles hit the city, killing four civilians. A subsequent army statement said six missiles had targeted the port.Yemen had experienced a relative lull in fighting since April 2022 after years of war between government forces and the Houthis, who have controlled the capital Sanaa and other areas since 2014.Fighting has intensified again in several provinces in recent weeks, including Marib, Al-Jawf, Al-Dhalea and Taiz.
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