At least 117 killed as fierce government-Houthi fighting rages in western Yemen

At least 117 people have been killed in four days of fierce clashes between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi group in the western provinces of Taiz and Hodeidah, medical officials said today (6 September).

A senior medical official accompanying government forces on the western coast frontlines, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 54 government soldiers were killed and many others wounded since the fighting erupted Thursday. 

Additionally, two medical sources at Houthi-run hospitals in western Hodeidah province confirmed that 63 Houthi members were killed during the same period, bringing the total death toll from both sides to 117. 

Meanwhile, government forces retook several key positions in western Taiz in a swift overnight counterattack, hours after Houthi members had seized them, according to a government military official who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

The latest escalation represents some of the heaviest ground fighting in western Yemen in recent years, raising concerns of a broader return to large-scale hostilities after years of relative calm across many of the country's frontlines. 

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.