Military escalation continued in Yemen in recent hours, with fighting, shelling and air strikes breaking out in several provinces between government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition supporting legitimacy, and Ansar Allah (the Houthis). Some of the clashes were concentrated in Taiz and the Kahboub front in Lahj province, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as both sides exchanged accounts of battlefield advances and losses.
Government forces say they repelled attacks in Taiz
Government forces said on 26 September 2026 that, with the support of popular resistance forces, they had repelled a Houthi attack on the Al-Alqamah-Rasin front west of Taiz province. They added that they had forced the attackers to retreat and flee after inflicting deaths and injuries among their ranks, without announcing a specific casualty toll from the confrontation.
In southern Taiz, government artillery shelled Houthi firing positions and sites at Tabbet Surayh on the Al-Salou front. Government units also said they had targeted group gatherings and, alongside the shelling, thwarted an infiltration attempt by Houthi fighters on the Al-Aqroud front in the south-east of the province.
The clashes extended to the eastern front of Taiz city, where government forces said they had eliminated a group of Houthi members as they attempted to infiltrate. They added that group sites and gatherings had been targeted at Tabbet al-Qareh west of Taiz, along with air strikes on gatherings in Taiz city, Dhubab district, and the Al-Tabbah al-Safra and Al-Khazzan areas on the Al-Kadaha and Al-Ahkoum fronts.
Kahboub battles threaten the Bab al-Mandab area
On the Kahboub front in Lahj province, adjacent to Dhubab district in Taiz province, fighting continued in an area containing highlands overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The front has seen intense clashes for days amid Houthi attempts to seize the highlands in order to secure their presence in the strategic area around the maritime strait.
Government forces said they had targeted a Houthi vehicle in Kahboub, as well as a reconnaissance team attached to a mortar unit and an engineering team that, they said, was planting explosive devices at one of the front's sites. The government’s Nation’s Shield Forces also announced artillery fire on Houthi gatherings, saying the shelling had forced the group’s members to retreat and flee.
Government forces belonging to the Fourth Military Region and the Nation’s Shield Forces broadcast footage they said documented targeting operations in Kahboub. The front is considered one of the fiercest areas of fighting because of its location and the mountains overlooking the Bab al-Mandab area.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government-affiliated Giants Brigades said their units had thwarted all Houthi attempts over the previous two weeks to advance towards Kahboub and the Al-Mudharabah areas of Lahj province. They stressed that the group’s fighters had made no progress on those axes despite what they described as large-scale deployments sent to the battlefields.
The Giants Brigades added that their units had destroyed Houthi attack formations and thwarted successive attacks, saying the group had suffered heavy losses. They also announced the recapture of several positions that the Houthis had seized without resistance before government forces sent reinforcements to the front.
Conflicting claims over air strikes and losses
In other provinces, government forces announced drone strikes on Houthi gatherings in Al-Dhalea province, alongside targeting group vehicles north of Al-Jawf province. In Marib, where clashes between the two sides continue, the Yemeni armed forces spokesman denied Houthi claims of battlefield victories.
The spokesman described the claims as allegations intended to distract from celebrations marking the anniversary of the 26 September Revolution. This came as fighting continued in Marib during the latest round of escalation, which has affected several Yemeni fronts. The Houthis, meanwhile, accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out five air strikes on sites in the Qatabir and Marran districts of Saada province, the group’s main stronghold.
They also reported four air strikes targeting the Mawiyah Junction in Al-Ta'iziyah district of Taiz province, and another strike on Al-Makhadir district in central Ibb province, which they said targeted Al-Dalil Bridge. The Houthis had said the previous evening that Saudi warplanes had carried out 14 air strikes and a missile strike on the provinces of Taiz, Amran, Marib and Saada over 24 hours.
Conflicting accounts over Mount Numan and Dar al-Kafir
The accusations came alongside government announcements of air and artillery operations on several fronts. The two sides gave conflicting accounts of the summit of Mount Numan and Dar al-Kafir, which overlook Al-Wazi'iyah district in Taiz province and Al-Mudharabah district in Lahj province.
Government forces announced that they had taken control of the two sites in what they described as a swift military operation, while the Houthis said they had driven government forces from the mountain and its surrounding areas in Al-Wazi'iyah district. The Houthis added that the clashes had left dozens of government forces dead or wounded, and announced that they had shot down three drones and disabled several military vehicles.
Neither side provided an independent casualty toll or neutral documentation of the outcome of the fighting in the area. Amid the clashes, Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi announced the opening of what he called a safe return to the ranks of the republic and constitutional legitimacy.
He pledged an amnesty for anyone who left the Houthi group and stopped fighting in its ranks or working for its interests, while also calling on Yemenis to undertake a general mobilisation, answer the national call and rally around the armed forces and security services. The escalation between government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis entered its fourth month, as ground battles intensified from the beginning of September.
On the tenth of that month, the Houthis seized the cities of Hays and Al-Khokha, the last government strongholds in Hudaydah province, as well as the districts of Al-Mokha and Dhubab in Taiz province, reaching the Bab al-Mandab area. The current round of fighting came after four years of a truce and de-escalation between the two sides.
That period did not produce a political settlement to Yemen’s war, which has continued for 12 years, before clashes resumed and spread across several fronts.
