Yemen: Yemen's Houthi group shelled civilian sites and a key road in south Taiz province Thursday, with reports of civilian casualties, according to the Yemeni Joint Forces on the western coast. It said Houthi shelling targeted civilian sites in the Al-Haql area of the Jabal Habashi district, west of Taiz in southwestern Yemen. The Houthis also shelled Hayjat al-Abd Road linking Taiz with the southern city of Aden, it said in a statement.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Joint Forces reported there were civilian casualties from the attack but did not provide a toll or other details. Earlier, several people, including women and children, were killed when Houthis attacked a civilian convoy carrying dozens of displaced families toward the southern city of Aden, state-run Al-Joumhouriya TV reported. The broadcaster said the convoy was carrying families from Hays, Al-Khawkhah, and Mocha toward Aden when it was attacked.

Around 15 civilian vehicles were burned in the attack, while an unspecified number of people were killed and injured, including women and children, it added. The Houthis have not commented on the reports. The attacks come amid a sharp escalation in fighting between government forces and the Houthis on several fronts in Yemen, including Taiz.

Yemen had experienced relative calm across much of the front lines since a UN-brokered truce took effect in April 2022, but fighting has intensified since July in several provinces, including Taiz, Marib, Al-Jawf, and Al-Dhale. The Houthis have controlled the national capital, Sanaa, and several cities since September 2014, while Yemen's internationally recognized government and allied forces control large parts of the country's south, east, and west.