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Yemen has seen its widest military escalation in three weeks, with heavy fighting between government forces and the Houthis in Taiz and Lahej as displacement since July nears 198,000, according to government data.
The clashes marked the sharpest escalation since Sept. 10, when the Houthis seized the strategic city of Mokha, according to monitoring by the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency.
Yemen's army said Thursday it repelled a major Houthi attack across several fronts in Taiz and Lahej and carried out six airstrikes on Houthi positions and vehicles.
The Tor al-Baha military axis said strikes targeted al-Akboush, al-Ahkoum and Hayfan south of Taiz, while the Taiz military axis reported fierce fighting in Bani Bakari, Himyar and al-Aqroud.
A military source told the agency that government forces also foiled a Houthi attack in the Sharie area southeast of Taiz, with deaths and injuries on both sides. The agency said it was the first Houthi attack on the district since 2014.
Yemen's Executive Unit for Internally Displaced Persons Camps Management said 29,519 families, totaling 197,906 people, had been displaced since the escalation began in July.
Taiz hosts the largest number, with 97,529 displaced people, followed by Lahej with 50,253. Aden has received 17,782 people, Abyan 14,679 and Al-Hudaydah 10,297.
Yemen's Human Rights Ministry also said it had documented the deaths of at least 100 children it said were recruited by the Houthis and killed in fighting during September.
The ministry said the figure represented only verified cases and that the actual number could be higher.
Yemen's government also filed a complaint with the U.N. Security Council, warning of what it called a serious Houthi threat to civil aviation over the southern Red Sea.
The government said Iranian-origin weapons launched from Houthi-controlled areas in al-Hudaydah were being fired toward international air routes and urged the council to take urgent action and enforce the arms embargo.
It said the weapons use heat-tracking systems that do not distinguish between military and civilian targets, posing a risk to commercial, U.N. and humanitarian flights.
The latest escalation has spread across Taiz, Lahej, Marib, al-Jawf and al-Bayda, while the Houthis have reported dozens of airstrikes and missile attacks on areas under their control.
The fighting intensified in September, with the Houthis seizing several key areas in al-Hudaydah and Taiz, including Mokha and later Mayyun Island overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Yemen's conflict began after the Houthis seized Sanaa and several provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.
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