Saudi warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes targeting communications networks in Yemen’s Sana’a and Sa’ada provinces on Friday, while Yemeni armed forces reported pushing Saudi-backed forces out of areas in Taiz and repelling a military advance toward the southern approaches to the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.
According to Al-Masirah, citing local sources, Saudi aircraft targeted communications infrastructure in the Bilad al-Rus and Arhab districts of Sana’a province, alongside three additional airstrikes on Mount Attan in the Yemeni capital.
The Sana’a provincial government reported that Saudi warplanes struck the Fandukh area in Bani Hashish district six times.
Further north, communications infrastructure on Mount Anam in Sa’ada province was targeted in two airstrikes, while two additional strikes hit communications networks in the districts of Kitaf and al-Buqaa.
Saudi aircraft also carried out two more airstrikes on Sahar district in Sa’ada, Al-Masirah reported, extending the latest attacks on infrastructure used to maintain communications across the country.
The strikes come amid the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen, which began in March 2015 and has repeatedly targeted the country’s infrastructure, including telecommunications facilities.
The consequences of the continuing conflict have also been reflected in Yemen’s already fragile public services. The World Health Organization has warned that the country’s health system faces a serious crisis amid continued fighting, with cholera cases reportedly tripling over the preceding three weeks.
Meanwhile, Yemeni military sources reported developments on the ground in Taiz province and near Bab al-Mandab, where government-aligned forces said they had defeated Saudi-backed formations.
A military source told Yemen’s official Saba news agency on Friday that Yemeni armed forces had broken up Saudi-backed troop concentrations and military positions throughout Jabal Habashi district in Taiz province, forcing the forces out of the area.
In a separate development on the southern front, the same source said Yemeni forces had repelled an attack and disrupted the military deployment of Saudi-backed forces advancing from Lahj province toward the southern approaches to Bab al-Mandab.
According to the source, dozens of Saudi-backed fighters were killed or wounded in the clashes, while several military vehicles belonging to the advancing forces were set ablaze or destroyed.
The reported developments form part of military operations in Taiz and areas near Bab al-Mandab, a strategically important maritime passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Jabal Habashi is considered militarily significant because of its commanding heights overlooking Taiz city and its surrounding communication routes, while the Bab al-Mandab area remains a strategically sensitive front in Yemen’s protracted conflict.