Yemeni government forces said on Thursday they had repelled new Houthi attacks and infiltration attempts around the main Taiz-Aden route, as fighting continued across high ground leading towards the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Yemeni armed forces’ official news outlet said troops drove back Houthi fighters who had reached the Hayjat al-Abd road and repelled an attack on the al-Ahkum area of Hifan district in Taiz province. Military spokesman Col Majed al-Nuzaili said the attackers withdrew without making further advances and that government forces and allied local fighters had deployed across the Hifan front. The battlefield claims could not be independently verified.

A separate military statement said Yemeni warplanes carried out strikes on Houthi positions, gatherings and vehicles in Taiz and Marib, including what the military described as a meeting of Houthi commanders in al-Wazi’iyah, west of Taiz. The statement provided no independently verified assessment of casualties or damage.

The latest fighting follows days of battles over mountain positions commanding roads between the Red Sea coast and government-held areas farther south. Government forces said earlier this week that they had taken full control of Mount Qarfan in southern Taiz after clashes with the Houthis. The Houthis did not immediately confirm losing the position.

Farther south, the Kahboub mountain range remains a central focus of the fighting. Five Yemeni military sources told Reuters earlier this week that Houthi forces were attempting to seize the heights, which stretch across Taiz and Lahj and separate the Red Sea coast from areas still held by the internationally recognised government. Fighting was reported around al-Wazi’iyah and Ras al-Ara, between Bab al-Mandab and Aden.

The battle for the mountains follows a rapid Houthi advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast earlier in September. Government sources told Reuters that the group reached Perim, also known as Mayyun, an island inside the Bab al-Mandab Strait, on 11 September after government forces withdrew. The Houthis had also captured Mocha and Dhubab during their coastal offensive.

The Houthis have presented a different account of their objectives around the waterway. Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the group’s political bureau, told the Associated Press that its goal was “not to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait” and said it intended to allow international navigation while continuing operations against Saudi-linked shipping. The group has blamed Saudi Arabia for the renewed escalation and says its attacks will continue until restrictions on Houthi-controlled areas are lifted.

The military escalation is also driving a rapidly worsening displacement crisis.

UNHCR said more than 130,000 people had been forced from their homes inside Yemen since the beginning of September. The agency said internal displacement could exceed 230,000 over the following month if current trends continue, with Taiz accounting for more than 60% of recent displacement. Around 70% of those displaced are women and children, according to the UN.

More than 3,000 Yemenis have also crossed by boat to Djibouti, while hundreds have reached Somaliland and Puntland. UN officials said the latest displacement comes on top of more than 5.2 million people already internally displaced before the current escalation and more than 22 million people estimated to need humanitarian assistance.

UNHCR said its Yemen response plan was less than 20% funded before the latest surge in fighting increased humanitarian needs. Government military outlets were still reporting clashes around Hifan and Hayjat al-Abd and air operations in Taiz and Marib early on Thursday.