Lahij (South24 Center)

On Tuesday and Wednesday (April 29 & 30) night, the Southern Armed Forces thwarted several attempted attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi group on the Yafa border front in Lahij governorate, according to a statement issued by the border front's command and a military source who spoke to ’South24 Center’.

The source said the clashes that erupted in the first and second sectors of the front resulted in the death of two members of the Southern forces and the injury to three others. He informed that the Houthis suffered “heavy” human and material losses, without providing details.

The source added that the Southern forces used medium and heavy weapons to thwart the attacks and launched accurate shelling on Houthi positions and fortifications. He added that the clashes are still continuing.

The clashes coincided with the Houthi shelling of residential areas. The Southern forces responded to the sources of fire and managed to extinguish them, according to the statement.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthi group on this.

The Yafa front is located in Lahij governorate, a mountainous border area overlooking Al-Bayda and Al-Dhalea governorates, that occasionally witnesses infiltration attempts by Houthi forces towards areas belonging to the Southern forces.

The Yafa area extends into Abyan governorate, a stronghold of prominent tribes that play a key military and political role in South Yemen.

The United Nations sponsored a six-month truce in Yemen that went into effect in April 2022 and resulted in a remarkable reduction in large-scale military operations, before subsequent talks on extending it collapsed in October of that year.

Despite the absence of a formal agreement since then, both sides have maintained a state of fragile de-escalation amid ongoing regional and international efforts to revive the peace process.