Original Summary

Watch: Correspondent takes cover as approaching drone interrupts report "This is the first drone," said the soldier accompanying us in south-western Yemen. "It's usually followed by an attack." The buzzing sound overhead got louder as we took cover under the bushes, before climbing back into the vehicle and driving away. Within about 10 minutes, the loud thuds of strikes followed, one after another, though it was unclear where they landed. It is hard to tell where the front line begins in the mountains south-west of the city of Taiz. Saudi-backed pro-government forces are battling to push back Houthi fighters, who swept down the coast of the Red Sea earlier this month, taking control of a key shipping chokepoint and escalating Yemen's civil war. We travelled with government forces from Taiz through checkpoints to the line where their control ends and no man's land begins, in order to see the fighting up close. Homes are scattered across the slopes, but many stand abandoned after families fled to escape the fighting. It is eerily quiet, no sound of the cars or motorbikes that are continuously whizzing through the city. All you can hear is the bleating of livestock and the sound of incoming and outgoing fire. "Two mortars landed here on my property," said Ali, sitting outside his home with a herd of goats, about 1km (0.6 miles) from the front line. Liam Weir/BBC / Ali has remained at home under mortar fire to look after his goats He told me he had sent his children to a displacement camp because they could no longer cope with the shelling and gunfire. He had stayed with his wife and sisters to look after their animals. "I am terrified," he said, "but I have no choice, we will all go hungry without our animals and die anyway." He gave only his first name, fearful of repercussions if the Houthis take over the area in the days ahead. Contacts from the Houthi side have told us they are consolidating troops, preparing for a major offensive. When we asked government forces about this they said they are aware and were preparing too. At the closest checkpoint to the front line, we met some fighters who had just returned from positions high on the mountain, just a few hundred metres from advancing Houthis. One of them said the bodies of 18 government soldiers lay in an area his unit could fire across but not reach. "We shoot over them, but we can't pull them out," he said. Fighting around Taiz has intensified since the Houthis seized the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha, 85km to the west of the city, on 10 September, after a ceasefire that had largely held for four years unravelled. The group took control of a swathe of territory overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait – a crucial shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia. This contributed to a rise in oil prices as fears rose of further disruption to supplies from the region. Taiz is Yemen's third biggest city and its cultural capital, and is home to close to a million people. It sits at a vital intersection between Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen and government-held ones in the south – and is hemmed in by front lines in several directions. Government forces hold the centre of Taiz, while Houthi positions lie to its north and east. The fiercest recent fighting has been on the western approaches, where the two sides are contesting high ground overlooking the city's route south. If the Houthis secure these areas, government forces could find it much harder to retake Mokha. We travelled to Taiz from Aden in the south, where Yemen's internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council and government are based. About 30 checkpoints along the route marked stretches of road controlled by different commanders – a clear sign of the fractured make-up of the forces fighting on the government side. As we neared the city, ambulances began to pass us. We counted at least five within half an hour, heading towards Taiz's main hospital. It was clear that we were driving into a city at the heart of a brutal battle. We arrived after dark. The shops were lit, the restaurants were packed and children were playing in the streets. But every so often, other sounds broke through – the thud of shelling and the crack of gunfire from the mountains around the city. Liam Weir/BBC / An international coalition led by Saudi Arabia is providing the Yemeni government with weapons Taiz has been a major battleground in the country's devastating civil war. After ousting the government from Sanaa in 2015, the Houthis attempted to also seize control of Taiz but were driven out of most of the city by local militiamen. Now, in their latest offensive, Houthis are making extensive use of drones alongside other weapons. Their main outside supplier is Iran, which has provided weapons, funding and military advice, according to Saudi Arabia, Western countries and UN experts. Iran, however, has previously denied supplying weapons to the Houthis and says it only supports them politically. There have been persistent reports over many years of the Houthis recruiting child soldiers, and a government soldier told us he had faced them on the front line. "It's difficult to look at a Yemeni child and shoot at him. But then they are pointing the gun at you and you have to defend yourself," he said. The Houthis signed an "action plan" with the UN in 2022 pledging to end the practice. The BBC has also spoken to teenagers serving with government forces. Meanwhile a coalition led by Saudi Arabia is backing the Yemeni government, and providing it with weapons. The Saudi military has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Houthi positions on the Red Sea coast, while the Houthis have launched drones and missiles at cities and infrastructure in south-western Saudi Arabia. Liam Weir/BBC News / Twelve-year-old Ghana was seriously injured by a mortar while herding goats In the evening, at al-Thawra hospital in Taiz, casualties from the front lines were being brought into an intensive care unit

中文概览

中文标题： 也门前线城市内部：胡塞武装争夺控制权

记者随政府军深入塔伊兹前线，途中因无人机和袭击躲避。胡塞武装本月初沿红海海岸推进，夺取关键航运咽喉，也门内战升级，沙特支持的政府军试图击退。塔伊兹近百万人口，位于胡塞与政府控制区交汇处。9月10日胡塞夺取摩卡港后，当地战斗加剧；该地靠近Bab al-Mandab海峡，引发油价上涨担忧。

  • 情报分类：综合情报
  • 分类依据：内容为也门战地及地区冲突综合新闻，不属技术、职业、商业等类别，故归general。
  • 信息来源：英语新闻 / BBC News Top Stories
  • 发布时间：2026/9/28 05:16:31