Fighting swept several fronts across Yemen on Wednesday and into Thursday, with both sides reporting large numbers of strikes over a single 24-hour period. Government forces said they had carried out 749 attacks on Houthi command centres, fortifications, vehicles and supply lines, according to a statement from their spokesperson Majid al-Nuzaili reported by Xinhua via IANS. He claimed the operations had neutralised 239 Houthi fighters and destroyed or damaged 117 vehicles, and said forces were consolidating gains in the south-western province of Taiz.

Competing claims, neither independently verified

The Houthi side gave a very different account. Its military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi forces had carried out 101 air and missile strikes on Sanaa and eight provinces over the past 24 hours, claiming dozens of people had been killed or wounded, including women and children. Those figures could not be independently verified. Separately, Houthi broadcaster Almasirah reported 14 people dead and 10 wounded in strikes blamed on Saudi Arabia on a market and a petrol station in Jawf province, a preliminary toll on which Saudi authorities did not immediately comment.

Aden airport warned again

Fresh explosions were heard near Aden International Airport on Wednesday, shortly after the Houthis renewed a warning urging people to evacuate the facility. Saree said the warning was prompted by what he claimed was a Saudi military cargo aircraft carrying weapons; Saudi authorities did not immediately comment on that claim. Aden is the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government and the main gateway to the south. Air traffic was halted after Wednesday's strike, transport ministry officials told Reuters, and the International Organization for Migration said its personnel travelling through Aden were safe and accounted for.

Sources: IANS / Xinhua, Reuters via SRN News, AFP via IPP News.