Sana’a: In Yemen’s southern province of Dhalea near Aden, local pro-government fighters said they were pushing Al Houthi militiamen back after ejecting them from the regional capital last month. They added that at least 15 Al Houthi militiamen had been killed and 70 detained in the last two days.
Meanwhile, Al Houthi militiamen and their allies within the army in Yemen seized the capital of a large desert province on the border with Saudi Arabia on Sunday, residents said, an important victory for the group ahead of peace talks in Geneva on Monday.
Al Houthis took control of Al Hazm, capital of the province of Al Jawf, amid Saudi-led coalition air strikes on Al Houthi positions and heavy fighting with armed tribesmen.
“Al Houthi militiamen and those loyal to the former president [Ali Abdullah Saleh] spread out in the city and around government buildings,” a tribal source in Al Hazm told Reuters by phone.
A Saudi-led military alliance has been carrying out air raids in Yemen for almost three months to try to restore exiled President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and repel Al Houthis, whom they regard as proxies for Iran.
Since forming an alliance with Yemen’s still powerful former president Saleh and his loyalists in the army, Al Houthis have taken over the capital Sana’a and swooped into several central provinces.
But their push on the country’s southernmost city and major port, Aden, triggered the regional Arab intervention on March 26, and the air campaign has brought about a virtual stalemate in ground fighting nationwide.
The Yemeni government exiled in Saudi Arabia says the Al Houthi militia has usurped the state and must back down.
United Nations-backed talks in Geneva will be attended by delegations representi Hadi, Saleh and Al Houthis, but analysts believe prospects are dim for a compromise as fighting rages on.
