Yemen government forces seize Lahj ground as Houthis hit Saudi Arabia

Yemen's National Shield Forces announced on Monday that they had captured Houthi-held positions on the al-Muhawala front in western Lahj, after a large-scale assault on the southern governorate. The force claimed dozens of Houthi fighters were killed or wounded in the attack. The claims could not be independently verified.

The Lahj operation follows several days of reported government gains in the northern governorate of al-Jawf, east of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa. Government forces have moved through mountain ranges east of al-Hazm, the provincial capital. Al Jazeera Arabic reporter Suhaib al-Miyahi visited the al-Jawf front line on November 6, documenting trenches and fortifications at positions commanders said were taken from the Houthis while fighting continued nearby.

In Taiz, the Houthis have kept the city encircled and under siege for more than a month, though government forces say they repelled attacks on several fronts around the city's outskirts in the past day. Military spokesperson Majed al-Nuzaili said in his Monday update that government forces had carried out almost 1,000 attacks in the previous hours, leaving more than 120 Houthi fighters dead or wounded. Those figures were also unverified.

The clashes are part of Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched on October 5 to reverse Houthi gains along the Red Sea coast made the previous month and eventually defeat the Iranian-backed group. But Saudi-backed government forces have yet to score major gains in what is shaping up as a war of attrition, the latest phase of a conflict that began when the Houthis took Sanaa in September 2014.

Political analyst Tawfik al-Hamidi, president of the SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties, told Al Jazeera the government is depleting Houthi manpower, helped by Saudi air strikes. "I believe that what is happening reflects a real depletion of the Houthis' capabilities, and not just a tactical retreat," he said, adding that the frequency of Houthi attacks has dropped. He called al-Jawf strategically vital because of its proximity to Sanaa, and said Taiz could be the biggest beneficiary if the siege eases.

Civilians are paying the price in Taiz: nine people, including two children, were wounded in shelling and gunfire across several areas on Sunday, according to reports published Monday by the state-run Saba news agency. Local and medical sources cited by Saba said an ambulance came under fire in the al-Awat area the same day, killing a wounded patient and his father and injuring a paramedic. The Joint Medical Emergency Committee in Taiz said preliminary reports indicated another ambulance was targeted in al-Shaqab. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition said on Sunday it intercepted a drone and five missiles fired by the Houthis towards Riyadh and Saudi Arabia's eastern and southern regions, including attacks aimed at oil facilities. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Saudi forces had carried out more than 100 air strikes in the preceding 24 hours on Marib, Sanaa, Hodeidah, Taiz, Lahj and al-Jawf, alleging civilian casualties without giving a number. Al-Hamidi said the Houthis are using cross-border attacks to raise the security and economic cost for Riyadh and push it to halt the offensive, but warned the tactic could backfire by pushing Saudi Arabia to intensify its response instead of offering concessions.