Shabwa (South24)

---

Over the past few days, the Southern forces have repelled several attacks carried out by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia on a number of border fronts between the governorates of Marib and Shabwa.

A South24 correspondent in Shabwa Governorate said that the Shabwa Defense Forces and Southern Giants Brigades had thwarted infiltration attempts by the Houthis on fronts and mountain ranges extending from the Harib district in Marib to the Beihan and Ain districts in the northwest of Shabwa.

A video field report carried out by a team from South24 last Wednesday showed an exchange of fire between Southern forces and the Houthis in the Ain district, in northwestern Shabwa.  

#عاجل |
كاميرا مركز سوث24 ترصد التطورات العسكرية على الحدود الشمالية لمحافظة شبوة - تقرير عبد الحميد العولقي#south24 pic.twitter.com/Yuh6IyupOA

— South24 | عربي (@South24_net) February 1, 2024

Several Southern officers and soldiers spoke to South24 Center about the clashes. One officer revealed three Houthi fighters had been killed and seven others captured during overnight confrontations on January 31.

“We are prepared to defend our homeland until the last breath,” said one of the soldiers from the Southern forces. The latest attacks by the Houthis are the most violent in Shabwa Governorate in months, and coincided with their military escalation in the Gulf of Aden. 

The Houthi attacks caused the death and injury of a number of Southern soldiers, including a soldier who was killed by a Houthi missile strike in Beihan, Shabwa Governorate, on January 28. Another soldier was also killed a few days earlier in Harib District, Marib Governorate.

Yesterday, the official Deraa Aljanoob website reported that the Houthis had used drones to bomb residential villages in the Tur Al-Baha district in Lahj Governorate. The Houthis also carried out other attacks on fronts in Al-Dhalea Governorate.

In early 2022, Southern forces were able to expel the Houthis from the western districts of Shabwa following a series of fierce battles. Units from the Southern Giants Brigades were stationed along advanced lines in the Harib district of Marib after the expulsion of the Houthis from its central area.