Clashes between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and government forces have killed 81 combatants since Thursday, according to a tally of figures from two military officials and medical sources in rebel-held territory.

A military official on the Red Sea coast reported 24 of his men killed, while another in the inland Taiz area said 15 had been killed there.

At least 42 Houthi militants were also killed, according to medical sources in areas under their control.

Deadly clashes erupted in Yemen on Thursday, after Houthi fighters targeted populated districts along Yemen’s western coast in Taiz and Hodeidah provinces with 14 ballistic missiles and drone attacks, the Yemeni Armed Forces Media Centre said on Thursday.

Military government sources told AFP the rebels were attempting to cut off the key port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, from other government areas, and advance towards areas bordering the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait.

Air defences intercepted several drones in the Taiz front and others over districts along the western coast, the centre quoted a military source as saying.

The source praised the “high combat readiness” of Yemeni armed forces, saying morale remained high and military units across different sectors maintained a high level of vigilance and preparedness.

The ballistic missiles did not hit positions of forces deployed along the western coast, the source said.

Yemen, embroiled in more than a decade of civil conflict, became the latest country to be drawn into the Middle East war in July, as the Houthis upended a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government.