Fighting in Yemen’s central Bayda Province began at the start of the month, with the government claiming to have captured several villages amid heavy fighting, before ultimately losing many of them in counteroffensives.
Government forces are pouring reinforcements into the area this week. The last 48 hours have seen a new round of heavy fighting, and reports from officials that 320 fighters were killed.
That is a huge death toll, covering fighters on both sides in just two days of fighting. It is impossible to confirm, as is often the case, with no figures offered by the Houthis and an unclear split between the two sides.
Heavy fighting over towns and villages in Yemen has been consistent throughout the war, and often these high death tolls don’t lead to resolutions, but rather just to endless reinforcements on both sides being thrown at towns of limited value.
The government’s attempt at taking Bayda came amid months of the Houthis contesting Marib, further to the north. In both cases, heavy death tolls in fighting haven’t led to either side decisively taking their respective targets. Rather, they seem to reflect the ongoing lack of conclusion to the Yemen War.