Aden (South24 Center)

Southern forces, backed by local tribesmen, repelled a Houthi militia attack on Sunday (September 13) at the Al-Khozam position on the Al-Aghabirah front in northern Lahj Governorate, a military source told South24 Center.

The source said Houthi fighters launched the attack from their positions in Al-Wazi’iyah District in western Taiz toward the northern outskirts of Lahj’s Al-Mudaribah wa Ras Al-Ara District. The defending forces held their positions and prevented the attackers from making any advances, the source added.

It was not immediately clear whether the clashes resulted in casualties on either side.

Al-Khozam lies along a mountainous contact line separating Al-Mudaribah and Al-Wazi’iyah districts. The area witnessed heavy fighting during the 2015 war, when Houthi forces attempted to advance south through mountain routes toward Lahj. The renewed fighting on this axis opens an inland pressure point alongside the Houthis’ recent advance along the Red Sea coast.

Separately, the Southern Giants Brigades said on Sunday that they had intercepted and downed an explosive-laden Houthi FPV suicide drone as it approached one of their positions near the front lines bordering Al-Mudaribah District.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Southern Giants Brigades described the confrontation with the Houthis as “an existential battle”, saying their forces remained fully prepared to repel any attack targeting South Yemen.

“The battlefield will be the judge,” the statement added.

The clashes came days after the Iran-aligned Houthi militia seized the strategic coastal city of Al-Mokha and advanced south toward Dhubab and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait. The group also expanded its presence to the southern island of Mayyun and the Hanish archipelago.

These territorial gains brought Houthi forces into direct contact with areas leading into western Lahj, creating simultaneous pressure along the coastal axis through Bab Al-Mandab and the mountainous axis between Al-Wazi’iyah and Al-Mudaribah.

Houthi ballistic missiles and drones also targeted the Ras Al-Ara and Khor Amira areas in Lahj in recent days, while another drone struck the Al-Mahaji area on the Al-Had front in Yafa, according to military and local sources.

Lahj Governor Murad Al-Halimi chaired a meeting of the governorate’s military and security committee on Sunday to discuss developments on the Al-Subaiha and Bab Al-Mandab fronts. The committee called for stronger coordination among military and security units, increased deployments and readiness, and measures to accommodate civilians displaced by the fighting.

The International Organization for Migration said on Saturday that more than 76,000 people had been displaced by the latest escalation in Yemen. Nearly 17,000 of them, representing 2,819 households, arrived in Lahj Governorate, placing additional pressure on shelter, food, water and healthcare services.

Along the Western Coast, the National Resistance said more than 500 of its personnel were killed and around 1,500 others wounded in fighting between August 9 and September 10. It claimed that more than 1,000 Houthi fighters were killed and thousands wounded during the same period.

South24 Center could not independently verify the figures.

The National Resistance accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of providing direct operational support for the Houthi offensive.

Meanwhile, Houthi-run media said airstrikes targeted Baqim District in Saada Governorate and the Al-Rubaie area in Taiz’s Al-Taiziyah District on Sunday. Saudi authorities had not commented on the reports at the time of publication.