Fighting rages in Yemen’s Taiz as UN warns nearly 260,000 now displaced

Fighting has intensified in Yemen's Taiz province between forces loyal to the country's internationally recognized government and the Houthis, with the United Nations warning that nearly 260,000 people have been displaced by the escalation.

A government military spokesperson, Majid al-Nazili, said on Wednesday that government forces had carried out 835 "targeting operations" against Houthi positions. He reported intense clashes in the strategic highlands of Jabal Han in western Taiz, and a Yemeni military source told Al Jazeera that air raids had struck Houthi gatherings. The defence ministry later threatened to widen its attacks to Houthi rallies and issued a warning to civilians in Houthi-held areas.

The UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA), in a report released late on Wednesday, said aid partners had reached more than 174,000 displaced people "despite extremely difficult conditions". Newly displaced families told aid workers that shelter was their most urgent need, followed by food and cash. Yemen's Ministry of Education separately reported that more than 2.5 million children are out of school.

The offensive is part of a government "Dawn of Yemen" counteroffensive that followed the Houthis' declaration of a blockade on Saudi Arabia through the crucial Bab al-Mandeb strait. The Houthis have also launched attacks inside Saudi Arabia: the kingdom's civil aviation authority said on Thursday that the death toll from Wednesday's Houthi strike on King Fahd airport in Dammam had risen to two. The US State Department ordered non-essential staff and family members to leave Saudi Arabia and warned Americans that hostilities could spread.

Yemen's government also accused the Houthis of striking the Aden and al-Rayyan airports on Wednesday. The country has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, and a 2022 UN-brokered truce collapsed in July.