Al Mukalla: Yemeni government forces have scored new territorial gains in the last couple of days in two main front lines in northern Yemen, killing and capturing dozens of Al Houthi militants, military officials and tribal leaders said on Sunday.
Backed by intense air strikes from a Saudi-led Arab coalition warplanes, resistance fighters and army troops recaptured most of Khab and Al Sha’af districts and besieged a strategic military location called Al Agba in the province of Jawf.
“We are now in full control of 75 per cent of Khab and Al Sha’af,” Abdullah Al Ashraf, a spokesperson for Jawf Resistance, told Gulf News.
Khab and Al Sha’af is the country’s largest district that extends to the Saudi border.
After fierce battles with Al Houthis fighters, the government forces also deployed troops in an international highway that connects province of Jawf, Sa’ada, Marib and Sana’a with Al Boga border crossing with Saudi Arabia, according to Al Ashraf. Saleh Al Rousa, a field commoner of the resistance, narrowly escaped death on Saturday when his car passed over a landmine on front lines. Two of his associates were killed and he is suffering from fractured arms and legs. Al Ashraf said: “We have captured ten Al Houthi fighters on Saturday night and laid a siege on their military positions in Al Agba.”
Supported by troops loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, Al Houthis have suffered major setbacks in the province of Jawf since December when government forces mounted a massive assault from the neighbouring province of Marib. The militants have lost control of strategic territories like Hazem, the province’s capital.
In the province of Sana’a, officials at Sana’a Resistance said seized they controlled new mountains and villages, making them closer to the capital. Abdullah Al Shandagi, Sana’a Resistance spokesperson, told Gulf News that mountainous regions like Ghowel, Nageel Al Shougra and Al Katheb are under control of government forces. “Two of our fighters have been martyred while dozens of Al Houthis were killed in the bloody clashes.”
Al Houthis militants, who come from the northern province of Saada, began expanding their influence out of their heartland, taking control of the capital in September 2014 and subsequently most of the country.
Promoted by a call of help from President Abd Rabbou Masnour Hadi, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of allied Arab country that rolled back the militants advance throughout Yemen.
