Mohammed Sameai and Serdar Dincel
18 August 2026•Update: 18 August 2026
Yemen’s government-aligned forces on Tuesday said that several Houthi fighters were killed and military vehicles destroyed in drone strikes in Yemen's southeastern province of Shabwa.
In a statement issued by their media center, the Shabwa Defense Forces said that they “carried out a qualitative military operation targeting Houthi positions on the Harib, Ain, Bayhan and Upper Marib fronts.”
The drone units “conducted strikes that hit targets at Houthi-controlled positions, causing human and material losses, including personnel and military vehicles," the statement noted.
The forces said that the operation came in response to a Houthi drone attack that killed a soldier, without providing further details.
The Houthis had not immediately commented on the statement.
Earlier Tuesday, the Yemeni army said a “large number” of Houthis had been killed or injured in drone strikes it carried out in Taiz province in southwestern Yemen.
Yemen had been under a relative lull since April 2022 after nearly 12 years of war between government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who seized control of the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of the country in 2014.
Since late 2023, after the Gaza war began, the Houthis have become increasingly involved in regional hostilities, launching attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, while recent renewed fighting has raised fears of a return to full-scale conflict in Yemen.
