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DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi-backed forces fought over an area located not far from a waterway that is crucial to global energy flows, killing 80 combatants over the past day, sources on both sides told AFP on Friday.
Fighting in Taiz has raged since the Iran-backed Houthis began a lightning offensive against the internationally-recognised, Saudi-backed government.
In their offensive, the Houthis also took control of the whole of the Red Sea coast, notably the area around the Bab al-Mandab strait, which is crucial not just for Saudi energy exports but for global shipping as a whole.
According to Houthi military sources, at least 55 anti-government fighters have been killed over the past 24 hours in fighting against government troops in the Taiz area. Government sources meanwhile told AFP that 26 troops on their side had been killed.
Fighting around Taiz is raging on several fronts, including in highlands overlooking the coastal areas seized in recent weeks by the Houthis.
While the Houthis have seized swathes of territory, they have yet to wrest control of Taiz city, which is Yemen’s third-largest after Sanaa and Aden.
On Thursday, the Houthis destroyed a bridge linking government-held areas to Aden, where the government is based, government sources told AFP.
The UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grunberg, said Thursday he was alarmed by developments in the Taiz governorate, adding that the Houthis’ operations pose “grave risks to the civilian population”.
Houthis said on Friday that Saudi forces launched 94 strikes against areas under their control in the past 24 hours, as the pro-Iran group and the Riyadh-backed government clash in the country’s revived civil war.
The group said that the number of Saudi strikes on its positions had reached 1,350 since the start of the renewed fighting, saying they targeted areas across Houthi-held Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis said that it had intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis towards the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.
Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters.
The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will be led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations.
While the US is already providing intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren’t expected to play a direct role in combat operations, said the people who requested anonymity to discuss security matters.
A key objective of the planned Saudi offensive, which hasn’t been previously reported, is aimed at reversing the rapid gains made by the Houthis last month when they advanced down the coast and seized control of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to the people with knowledge of the plans who include Gulf and Yemeni officials and Western diplomats.
The Saudis are considering two possible options for the assault, the Gulf and Yemeni officials said: Either a narrowly focused attack on the area around Bab el-Mandeb or a broader offensive that also includes other synchronized attacks on multiple fronts around Yemen, in the governorates of Al-Bayda, Marib, Taiz and Al-Jawf.
More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.
Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, the Houthi group and the US military didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about the Saudi plans.
Riyadh has concluded it cannot enter new Yemeni peace negotiations with the Houthis while the militants remain in control of Bab el-Mandeb, giving them significant global leverage, the Western diplomats and Gulf official said.
The six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations couldn’t give a precise timing for the launch of the offensive, with their estimates ranging from within a week to until after the US midterm elections in early November.
One of the kingdom’s key concerns in launching a new offensive in Yemen is how to protect its oil facilities and other infrastructure from Houthi drone and missile attacks, according to regional officials who said Riyadh has asked several allies for help with defensive systems.
A leading Iranian actress has been sentenced to one year in prison in Iran for her support of protesters killed during a bloody crackdown on anti-government rallies in January, a US-based NGO said Friday.
Elnaz Shakerdoust, who acted in dozens of films over a two-decade career, said in February that she would never perform in the country again after the authorities killed thousands in a crackdown on nationwide protests.
A tanker was attacked on Friday while leaving the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire but no casualties, a British maritime agency said.
The vessel was hit by an “unknown projectile” in the strategic waterway, “resulting in a small fire and blackout onboard”. But it said “the fire has since been extinguished and the vessel is underway” and “there are no reported casualties or environmental impact”.
The United States has granted sanctions exemptions for some Iranian airlines to operate flights to Iraq’s holy city of Najaf, the Iraqi prime minister’s office said Friday, as Washington targets Iran’s aviation sector to choke its economy in the Middle East war.
It said Baghdad had secured “an agreement allowing Iranian airlines, with the exception of Mahan Air, to operate 40 flights daily to and from Najaf”.
G7 countries agreed Friday to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their reserves over four months to ease global energy supply concerns, leaders said, pledging not to impose export restrictions on energy.
The announcement came after G7 leaders held a video conference chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, as the United States stepped up pressure on Europe to release strategic reserves and threatened a diesel export ban.
The talks, convened by Macron after a conversation with US President Donald Trump, focused on coordinating a response to soaring fuel prices among the other G7 economies of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said European countries had agreed to release a “massive amount” of diesel from their reserves. “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
Oil prices have started to fall after a decision to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel reserves, International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said on Friday.
Eurozone inflation jumped to 3.8 per cent in September, the highest level in three years, as the war in the Middle East fuelled a surge in energy costs, official data showed Friday.
The Pentagon on Thursday announced the award of a $24.4 billion contract for Raytheon to accelerate production of SM-6 missiles as Washington works to replace the large amount of munitions expended during the Iran war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Friday that Israel would impose a “very heavy price” on any power behind the flydubai incident, without offering evidence that any country was responsible.
“As time passes, the picture is becoming clearer: The attacker underwent Islamist radicalisation. He came to crash the plane with all passengers on board,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“We are investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price,” Netanyahu said of the co-pilot assailant.
Netanyahu did not identify any country as a potential culprit but for years has been quick to point the finger at Iran, which Israel and the United States attacked in February.
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Friday that contributions to an EU naval mission protecting Red Sea shipping remain insufficient, as Rome presses allies to do more to safeguard traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The US State Department said on Thursday it has waived human rights conditions for more than $300 million of military aid to Egypt in light of Cairo’s “helpful role” since the launch of the US war with Iran.
The average pump price of a litre of diesel fuel hit £2 ($2.64) in Britain for the first time on Friday, according to data compiled by the RAC motoring organisation, the latest landmark in a global surge in fuel prices.
Oil prices slumped Friday as G7 nations agreed to a major release of fuel reserves, while Wall Street stocks jumped after data showed that job creation withered last month.
US oil prices dropped sharply — as much as five percent at one point — while international benchmark Brent crude briefly fell back below $100 per barrel.
British police said on Friday that they had charged two Iranian nationals with preparing a terrorist attack against the Jewish community in northern England on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Rahman Salehi, 35, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, have been charged with preparing to commit an act of terrorism or assisting another to commit at act of terrorism on Friday, the anniversary of a fatal attack on a Manchester synagogue last year.
