TUNIS, September 19. /TASS/. At least 48 people died in the past 24 hours in clashes in southern Yemen between government forces and the Ansar Allah movement (Houthis), AFP quoted military sources from both sides as saying.

According to the government sources, 17 troops were killed in the clashes.

The Ansar Allah movement sources reported the death of 31 of their fighters.

The fighting is taking place on the border between the provinces of Lahij and Taiz. The government sources say its troops had recaptured about half of the positions occupied by the movement the day before.

The Ansar Allah sources told AFP about the advance of their fighters on the border between Lahij and Taiz.

In Yemen, confrontation between the government forces supported by Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has been ongoing since August 2014. The situation escalated sharply in early September, when the Ansar Allah movement launched an offensive in the southwest of the country. Simultaneously with the ground offensive, the Houthis began launching missile and drone strikes against the coastal areas of the Red Sea and the surrounding regions of the city of Taiz, seeking to cut off routes to Mocha and advance towards the areas located near the strategically important Bab·el·Mandeb Strait.

On September 12, member of the Ansar Allah political bureau Hazam al·Assad confirmed to TASS that the Houthis had established control over the territories with access to the Bab·el·Mandeb Strait in western Yemen.