Forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government have launched an operation to retake the mountainous al-Waziiya district in Taiz province from the Houthis, part of a broader effort to reassert control over the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
The operation took place on Tuesday, at the same time as Saudi Arabia, which backs the Yemeni government, announced it had intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the city of Khamis Mushait.
The move is part of the "Yemen Dawn" campaign announced on Sunday by Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, aimed at retaking all territory still held by the Houthis, including the capital Sanaa, where the Iran-backed group has held power since 2014.
The Yemeni army's media center said on X that the National Shield Forces, a military faction supporting the government, had begun a "large-scale campaign" to recapture al-Waziiya.
"The armed forces have taken control of strategic hills overlooking the al-Mansoura area, as Houthi forces withdraw en masse," the statement said, citing a military source.
The Houthis, however, rejected the claim, saying they had successfully repelled the Yemeni army's advance in al-Waziiya.
The mountainous district lies west of Taiz, east of the Red Sea port of Mocha. The Houthis seized Mocha and areas around the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a strategic maritime corridor, in a lightning offensive last month.
"These are the mountains the Houthis controlled before they took the city of Mocha," Al Jazeera correspondent Yousef Mawry said, reporting from Sanaa.
"If the Yemeni government really wants to control the city of Mocha, it cannot do so unless it takes control of the area in al-Waziiya district," he added.
Saudi Arabia intercepts missile
The fighting came as the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards the city of Khamis Mushait in the southwest of the kingdom.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said the Houthi missile threats originated from Houthi-held Sanaa and the provinces of Saada and Amran.
"The coalition continues to neutralize the threat of ballistic and ground-to-ground missiles, and to destroy launch sites," he added.
Earlier the same day, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said in a statement that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Airport in Jazan and Najran airport, near the Yemeni border, had been attacked, leaving three people injured.
The authority said the attacks caused injuries "of varying degrees" and material damage, and that the wounded had been taken to hospital.
The Houthis said late on Monday that their forces had targeted sites in southern Saudi Arabia, including airports and military positions.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition confirmed its participation in the Yemeni government's campaign to retake all Houthi-held territory, with 100 fighter jets providing air support.
Pakistan and Turkey have also agreed to activate "deterrence measures" under joint defense treaties with Saudi Arabia and to deploy forces rapidly to the kingdom in response to Houthi attacks.
