Saudi Airstrikes Kill Dozens of Houthis in Yemen’s Taiz

In the Saudi War in Yemen, the fight over the city of Taiz has been seen as a key to the war, with the pro-Saudi forces holding the southern port city of Aden, and the Houthis controlling the capital of Sanaa. Taiz is roughly in the middle, on the main highway, and heavily contested.

Houthi attempts to advance in the western part of the city against a key base over the weekend ended unsuccessfully, amid heavy fighting and heavy Saudi airstrikes. Dozens of Houthis were reported slain, along with an unknown number of pro-Saudi fighters.

This has been a recurring theme in Taiz, with the two sides fighting over the city but very little territory changing hands, and despite the Saudi commanders’ repeated claims of victory, never managing to take the rest of the city over.

The battle over Taiz stalled so quickly, indeed, that the pro-Saudi forces tried offensives further east, with an eye toward pushing northward through more roundabout routes, though these similarly stalled pretty quickly, and have left the nation divided along a north-south line.