Sana’a: Air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen’s Al Houthi militia and ground clashes over a key military base killed and wounded dozens of fighters on Tuesday, Yemeni security officials said.
According to the officials, at least 35 pro-government fighters and Al Houthi militants died in the battle for the base in the southwestern port city of Mokha. The base is located along a vital road to the heavily contested western city of Taiz, the officials said.
The officials, who are neutral in Yemen’s conflict, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to reporters.
Yemen is torn by fighting between the internationally recognized government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, and Al Houthis, allied with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The war has killed at least 5,700 people since March, when the fighting escalated and the Saudi-led air campaign began, according to the United Nations.
Al Houthis control some areas around the government-held Taiz and are fighting to take the city. If they fail to take Taiz and lose the ground around it, it would cement their loss of the country’s south and possibly force them into making concessions during negotiations.
On Monday, the UN special envoy for Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, told reporters in Geneva that Yemen’s warring sides have agreed to hold peace talks next week.
Previous peace efforts have ended in failure, with the Yemeni government, which has been mostly in self-exile in Saudi Arabia, demanding the implementation of a UN resolution calling on Al Houthis to lay down arms seized from the state and withdraw from territory, including the capital, Sana’a. Al Houthis want broader negotiations on the country’s political future.
