The Yemeni Armed Forces announced Sunday that its warplanes carried out three strikes targeting Houthi positions and barracks at al-Sawdā Hill and Mount al-Mun'im on the al-Dhabab front in Taiz governorate. The forces said they released footage showing attacks on Houthi positions, personnel and vehicles in the areas of Mokha and Dhu Bab on the western coast, as part of an operation it called “Kill Box.”
When the operation was launched on Friday, the forces had urged civilians to avoid using a number of roads in the area. The Yemeni Armed Forces added that it had carried out more than 20 strikes on Houthi positions in the districts of al-Zahir, Dhi Na'im, al-Sawadiyah and Mukayras in al-Bayda governorate.
Yemeni cabinet links escalation to Iranian agenda
According to its statement, the strikes targeted gatherings, vehicles, missile-launching platforms and a communications system, causing human and material losses among the Houthis. Separately, the Yemeni cabinet, chaired by Shaya al-Zindani, discussed the repercussions of the escalation.
Al-Zindani said the Houthi escalation went beyond the Yemeni arena and was linked to an Iranian agenda that used Yemen’s location to threaten regional security and international shipping, stressing that developments on the ground did not mean the course of the confrontation had been decided. On the humanitarian front, the United Nations said that at least 76,000 people had been displaced within Yemen since July, as displacement accelerated amid intensifying fighting between the Houthis and government forces.
Yemeni displaced people arrive in Djibouti
The International Organization for Migration’s humanitarian response coordinator said that women and children were among those arriving in Obock, northern Djibouti, and expected more people to arrive in the coming days. Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba called on United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to take urgent action over the humanitarian repercussions of the escalation.
In a letter to him, she said the Houthi escalation had worsened humanitarian conditions and waves of displacement, warning of the risks that the threat could extend to the Bab el-Mandeb, affecting civilians, international shipping and supply chains.
