Senior Al Houthi leaders killed in Saada

Dubai: A number of Houthi militia leaders were killed in an air strike conducted by the Arab coalition, according to SkyNews Arabia. The air strikes targeted various Al Houthi militia sites in the Saada Governorate. Meanwhile, forces of the legitimate government advanced on the northwestern axis of Jawf Governorate.

The coalition’s air strikes targeted a number of caves used by Al Houthi leaders and armed members, while the Yemeni national army and popular resistance continued to carry out their operations in Gharad, west of Saada.

On a related note, a SkyNews correspondent reported that the legitimate forces were able to take control of a number of strongholds in Al Misyab and Al Jawf.

Al Houthi and Saleh’s forces retreated from the sites, military sources revealed, following battles against legitimate forces that lasted for several hours. Coalition forces’ takeover of the sites allows them to advance towards Al Matoon and Al Burt districts.

In Taiz, clashes broke out between the legitimate forces and Al Houthi and Saleh’s forces in Al Kabbaitah.

Local sources said that the Arab Coalition’s Air Force launched a series of air strikes on rebel strongholds in order to foil their attempts to advance. Meanwhile, in Marib sporadic clashes broke out on the outskirts of the Sirwah District and Hailan Mountains. Supported by air cover, the legitimate forces were able to advance into the Hailan Mountains, where many militia members are based.

In Aden, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a senior leader of the pro-government Popular Southern Resistance group and four people travelling in his convoy in the southern city of Aden, residents and militia sources said on Thursday.

Assailants in a car and on a motorcycle opened fire on the motorcade of Ahmad Al Idrisi, while it travelled on a main road in the Mansoura district late on Wednesday.

Al Idrisi’s group is an important ally of a mostly Gulf Arab coalition which has been bombing the Iran-allied Al Houthi movement based in the capital, Sana’a, in Yemen’s north.

The alliance intervened in the country’s civil war on March 26 in support of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government.

In a separate incident, gunmen abducted the dean of a department at Aden University on Thursday, faculty and eyewitnesses said, two days after armed militants stormed the campus and demanded men and women not mix in classes.

Staff closed the university in a protest against Dr. Saleh Mubarak’s kidnapping and demanded the government do more to improve security, faculty of arts dean Mohammad Abdul Hadi said.

A senior Aden judge, Jalal Abdullah, was killed on the Mansoura thoroughfare on Tuesday, hours before a bomb detonated at a nearby headquarters of the Islah Islamist party, injuring one person, according to medics.