Yemen: Fighting intensifies in al-Jawf province, leaving 28 dead

28 people have lost their lives when fighting intensified between Yemen's government forces and the Houthi group in the country's al-Jawf province. Out of the 28 people, 18 people belonged to the Houthi group and rest were members of the government forces. A local military official who chose to be anonymous was quoted by ANI saying that “armed confrontations that began on late Sunday are still taking place between the government troops and the Houthi group over the control of key areas in al-Jawf province”. 

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Yemen war intensifies 

The official told ANI that the government forces wanted to get done with the Houthis from all the strategic areas in al-Jawf. He said, "The Houthis staged a stiff resistance and succeeded in impeding the progress of the government forces in al-Jawf til the moment”. According to a local Yemeni military official Houthis had made progress on-ground and had also captured areas in the neighbouring oil-rich province of Marib. This is when Saudi Arabia intervened and carried out a series of airstrikes against the Houthi-led areas in al-Jawf and Marib provinces. The Saudi-led coalition reportedly intercepted and destroyed a remotely-controlled bomb-laden boat in the south of the Red Sea on August 30. Coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki al-Malki said that the Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) was launched by Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, according to Saudi’s state news agency SPA.

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The spokesperson reportedly accused Houthi militants of blatant violation of the international humanitarian law and the Stockholm Agreement’s ceasefire provisions. According to the SPA, the Joint Forces Command of the coalition claimed that the Houthis are using the port city as a ballistic-missile, bomb-laden UAV, USV launch site, and a point of indiscriminate deployment of naval mines. Over 100,000 people have lost their lives in the ongoing civil war and millions depend on international food aid, making it one of the biggest humanitarian crises. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had made an appeal for an immediate global ceasefire fearing a collapse of health systems in war-ravaged countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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(With imputs from ANI)

(Image Credits: ANI)