Daijiworld Media Network - Aden

Aden (Yemen), Sep 7: At least 117 people have been killed in four days of fierce clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi group in the western provinces of Taiz and Hodeidah, medical officials said.

A senior medical official accompanying government forces on the western coast frontlines said 54 government soldiers had been killed and several others wounded since fighting erupted on Thursday.

Two medical sources at Houthi-run hospitals in western Hodeidah said 63 Houthi members had also been killed during the same period, taking the combined death toll to 117.

Yemeni government warplanes struck Houthi-held positions in Hodeidah and Taiz on Friday, supporting ground forces battling a major Houthi offensive near the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The airstrikes came amid intense fighting on multiple fronts, with Houthi fighters making rapid advances over the preceding 24 hours, according to officials.

Government forces also recaptured several key positions in western Taiz in an overnight counterattack, hours after Houthi fighters had seized the areas.

The latest escalation is among the heaviest ground fighting reported in western Yemen in recent years, raising concerns over a broader return to large-scale hostilities after years of relative calm along several frontlines.

Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.