Large scale operation planned to recapture Yemen’s Jawf province

Al Mukalla: Thousands of pro-government army troops and resistance fighters have been deployed in mountainous and desert areas in the Yemeni province of Jawf to pave the way for a massive military operation to recapture the province from Al Houthis and the forces of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, Hamed Zayed Bin Afia, a spokesperson for Jawf resistance, told Gulf News on Tuesday.

The forces initially amassed in the neighbouring Marib province before advancing into some regions in Jawf.

“The forces are now 8km from Al Houthi-controlled Al Khanjar military camp in the vast district of Khab and Al Sha’f in the border with Marib,” Bin Afia said.

After months of fierce clashes with Al Houthis, resistance fighters and government forces managed with the help of the Saudi-led coalition to gain the upper hand in the continuing civil war in Yemen.

In oil-rich Marib, the coalition brought in hundreds of armed vehicles and highly trained forces to retake the Serwah district from Al Houthis and then move to Jawf.

Observers in Yemen believe that the coalition will head to Sana’a after taking control of Jawf.

Bin Afia said that the fighters would mount an attack on Al Houthi positions the moment they receive orders from Yemeni security officials and the coalition. “We are linked to a wider plan with the national army and the coalition,”

Taking advantage of a weakened government, Al Houthis began expanding their strongholds in the province of Saada two years before storming the capital in September last year. The rebels first stormed Amran and then moved to Jawf in June where they faced stiff resistance from local tribesmen. At least 400 tribesmen were killed in 2014 according to Bin Afia. The militants fully controlled the large province that borders Saudi Arabia. Bin Afia said that wresting Jawf from Al Houthis means securing 300km from the border with Saudi Arabia and stifling Saada province. “Jawf is the eastern gate of Saada.”

Elsewhere, coalition warplanes pounded military sites manned by Al Houthis and their allies in many provinces on Tuesday. Residents in Al Janad region, Taiz province, said that coalition jets bombed a police station overrun by Al Houthis in the area. An unknown number of Al Houthis were killed in the air strikes. In Abyan, local media reports said that the warplanes foiled an attempt by Al Houthis to advance to some liberated districts in the province. The rebels regrouped near Houra slope and began advancing to Lawder city before being stopped by the warplanes.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ special envoy to Yemen Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad announced that negotiations between the warring parties will begin in Geneva by the end of the month.