More than 120 people have been killed in clashes between government forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen since Thursday

More than 120 people have been killed in clashes between Yemeni government forces and Houthi rebels from both sides said Friday.

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A Yemeni military official, who asked not to be identified, said the death toll among government forces since Thursday had risen to 66, while medical and military sources close to the Houthis reported that at least 62 militants had been killed.

A medical source in the coastal city of Mocha reported that a civilian was killed in a Houthi shelling that targeted a restaurant.

The fighting broke out after the Houthis launched a ground offensive that coincided with missile and drone strikes on coastal areas overlooking the Red Sea and in the vicinity of Taiz.

No official figures have yet been released by either the Houthis or the Yemeni government.

The Yemeni state  “the armed forces and national resistance forces launched a joint counter-attack today targeting militia positions on the Al-Kadha and Maqbana fronts, while the armed forces thwarted an infiltration attempt by Houthi elements on the Al-Ahtoub front in Jabal Habashi district.”

She added, “The armed forces thwarted a fierce attack launched by the terrorist Houthi militias on the Maqbana and Kadha fronts, with the aim of controlling the road linking the city of Taiz and Mocha.”

The Houthis do not currently directly control the coastal areas overlooking Bab al-Mandab, but they do control the coastal city of Hodeidah, located north of Mocha, and have repeatedly attacked Saudi ships in the Red Sea in recent weeks.

The government sent reinforcements from its temporary capital, Aden, to Taiz to repel the Houthi attack.

A government official in Aden said that the deployment of reinforcements “came at the direction of Saudi Arabia,” and that the forces were tasked with “restoring the situation in Taiz.”

He added that the Houthis “want to control the hills overlooking Bab al-Mandab and Mocha before attacking the coasts.”

A Yemeni field military source and a military official in Taiz said that the Houthis had seized strategic heights overlooking government positions near the Red Sea and the coastal city of Khokha, as well as the city of Taiz inland, noting that these positions allow them to target ships.