Aziz Ahmadi, Mohammed Sameai and Mohammad Sio Yemeni government forces carried out nine airstrikes Tuesday targeting Houthi fighters and military equipment in the southwestern Taiz province as escalation continues to rage across the country, according to the army.

The Taiz Military Axis Media Center said warplanes belonging to the Yemeni armed forces carried out five strikes in the Al-Dhabab area and four others in Al-Misrakh district.

The strikes targeted Houthi personnel and military equipment, the center said. It added that clashes were also ongoing between government forces and Houthi fighters on the Al-Shaqab front south of Taiz. The military did not provide details on casualties or damage.

Meanwhile, the Taiz office of Yemen’s Human Rights Ministry said in a statement late Monday that six civilians, including a girl, were killed and others were injured in Houthi shelling that struck densely populated villages in rural Taiz on Sunday.

In Taiz city, the office said 17 civilians, including five women and six children, were injured and seven homes were damaged in Houthi shelling over the previous 24 hours.

The office did not specify the nature or severity of the injuries or the extent of the damage Early Tuesday, the non-governmental Taiz Human Rights Center accused the Houthis of shelling the area around Al-Safwa Hospital, a private facility in central Taiz city.

It said a shell landed near the hospital, causing material damage to patient rooms and frightening patients and medical staff.

Thousands displaced Amid the continuing escalation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday evening that 216,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since August, including more than 172,000 from Taiz province.

The UN and humanitarian partners have so far reached around 143,000 people with emergency assistance, including food, hygiene supplies and cash support, the agency said.

On Saturday, local authorities in Taiz warned that the Houthis have tightened their siege on the province, threatening the lives, security and livelihoods of more than 6 million residents.

The Yemeni army launched Operation “Dawn of Yemen” last week, aimed at restoring state institutions and ending Houthi control of the capital Sanaa.

The developments are part of a military escalation that began in July, the most extensive since the relative calm that followed a UN-brokered truce that began in April 2022.

Yemen has been engulfed in war since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several of the country’s 22 provinces in September 2014, prompting an Arab coalition led by neighboring Saudi Arabia to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.

The Houthis fully control most northern and western provinces, including Sanaa, Saada, Amran, Dhamar, Al Hudaydah, Ibb, Al Mahwit and Raymah, while maintaining partial control over parts of Hajjah, Al-Bayda, Marib, Al-Jawf, Al-Dhalea and Taiz.

Government forces and their allies control the interim capital Aden, the eastern provinces of Al-Mahra and Hadramout, the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, most of Lahj and Al-Dhalea, and parts of Taiz, Marib, Al-Jawf, Hajjah and Saada.