Yemen's armed forces say they carried out 875 strikes against Houthi positions in the space of 24 hours as part of the government's Dawn of Yemen offensive, claiming that about 130 Houthi fighters and commanders were neutralised and 50 military vehicles were destroyed or disabled. The figures were announced by the army spokesman on Saturday and have not been independently verified.

Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said the operations targeted Houthi positions, gatherings, reinforcements, firing points and military equipment across several fronts, with support from fighter jets, drones and artillery. He said preliminary field assessments put Houthi losses at around 130 leaders and fighters, along with 50 vehicles, pieces of military equipment and rocket-launching platforms destroyed or disabled.

Al-Nuzaili said fighting continued in Taiz governorate, where government forces backed by popular resistance fighters repelled Houthi attacks and struck the group's movements and positions. In Marib and al-Jawf governorates, units from the Emergency Forces, the Nation's Shield Forces and forces affiliated with the military regions carried out strikes against Houthi gatherings and reinforcements. On the southern and western fronts, government forces operated alongside the Nation's Shield Forces, the Giants Brigades and the National Resistance Forces.

Claims not independently verified

The army spokesman said the armed forces would continue their operations to achieve the objectives of Dawn of Yemen while taking the necessary precautions to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. He gave no breakdown of those reported neutralised, and did not say how many were killed as opposed to wounded. Al Jazeera, which reported the announcement, said it could not independently verify the claims.

The figures are the latest in a series of daily totals issued by the Yemeni military since the offensive began. Earlier claims put the toll at different levels on different days, and the numbers have risen and fallen with the intensity of the fighting rather than following a steady pattern. Readers should treat each daily total as the army's own account, not as a confirmed casualty count.

Offensive aims to retake territory

Operation Dawn of Yemen was launched by the internationally recognised government last month with the aim of retaking territory from the Houthis, who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north. Government forces have reported advances in Marib and al-Jawf, where fighting has run for three consecutive days, and say they are pushing into Houthi-held areas.

The Houthis, for their part, claimed on Sunday that the Saudi-led coalition had carried out 105 air strikes and missile attacks over 24 hours across Sanaa and seven other governorates. That claim, like the army's, has not been independently verified. The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and almost 300,000 displaced since a 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July, when the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi ports and fighting resumed in earnest.