Yemen.. dead and wounded as a result of confrontations between the forces of the Southern Transitional Council and the Houthis in Lahj Governorate

Yemen – 29 people were killed and wounded today, Wednesday, in clashes between the forces of the Southern Transitional Council and the Houthi movement in Lahj Governorate, southern Yemen.

A Yemeni military source reported to “Sputnik” that “violent confrontations took place between a force affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council and another for “Ansar Allah” in the Al-Dhawari Heights on the Al-Shurayja Front, north of the Karsh area in the Al-Qubaita District, north of Lahj.”

He said, “The confrontations included mutual shelling with heavy weapons, and resulted in the killing of 5 members of the transitional forces, including a prominent leader, and the wounding of 8 others, while 9 members of the Ansar Allah movement were killed and more than 15 were wounded.”

The confrontations in Lahj Governorate come days following a similar fight broke out between the two sides in Al-Dhalea Governorate in central Yemen, last Friday, resulting in the killing of two soldiers from the Transitional Council forces, and 5 deaths among the ranks of “Ansar Allah”, while 9 were injured on both sides.

On (last March 14), the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, during a Security Council session, urged the parties to the conflict in Yemen to “exercise the utmost levels of restraint and work towards reducing escalation to protect the progress achieved with regard to the peace process in Yemen,” stressing “the continuation of clashes.” And the movements of forces in Hodeidah, Lahj, Ma’rib, Saada, Shabwa and Taiz, and the parties’ continuing to publicly threaten to return to war.”

Yemen has witnessed a fragile calm since the United Nations announced, on October 2, 2022, that the Yemeni government and the “Ansar Allah” movement had not reached an agreement to extend and expand the truce that lasted 6 months.

For the tenth year in a row, the Arab country is suffering from an ongoing power struggle between the internationally recognized government and the “Ansar Allah” movement, the repercussions of which were reflected in various aspects, as it caused a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations describes as the worst in the world.

Since September 2014, the “Ansar Allah” group has controlled the majority of the governorates in central and northern Yemen, including the capital, Sana’a, while on March 26, 2015, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations in support of the Yemeni army to reclaim those areas from the movement’s control.

Source: “Sputnik”