Al Mukalla: A senior Yemeni army commander has said that government forces with the help of the Saudi-led coalition have gained the upper hand in the battlefield and are pushing Iran-backed Al Houthi militants into defensive positions.
Speaking to a gathering of army generals in the central province of Marib, Major General Mohammad Al Maqadashi, Yemen army chief of staff, said that Yemeni forces have managed to halt Al Houthi gains on the battlefield and rebel forces have switched to defensive tactics such as planting landmines to obstruct government forces.
“The national army now has the upper hand and is in control of the battle’s course,” Al Maqadashi said.
For months, Al Houthi forces and renegade army units loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh rapidly stormed major cities in Yemen.
Their expansion was blunted when Saudi Arabia and allied Arab country entered the war in March 2015, to restore the legitimate president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power, tilting the balance of the war in favour of the president.
Al Maqadashi’s remark comes as government forces in Marib said on Friday that it had made territorial gains in the Serwah district.
A local army officer told Gulf News that government forces from Brigade 141 and Brigade 62 seized control of a number of hilly locations in Al Makhdara region after killing as least a dozen Al Houthi fighters.
The officer said that government forces have encircled Al Houthis on Helan mountain, cutting them completely off from receiving aid or reinforcements.
On Friday, the Ministry of Defence said that hundreds of landmines planted by Al Houthis have been neutralised.
Serwah is Al Houthi’s last enclave in the province of Marib where thousands of government and coalition forces are based.
Government forces have launched several offensives in Serwah aimed at capturing the strategic district and prevent the rebels from using it as a launching pad for rocket attacks on Marib city.
During a visit to the front lines, Al Maqadashi said that the fresh gains boosts efforts to deliver a decisive victory in the area which could then lead to marching on to Sana’a.
Meanwhile in Sana’a’s Nehim district, heavy clashes erupted when government forces attacked Al Houthi fighters positions in Nehim’s rugged mountains.
Local journalists embedded with government forces have recently posted videos from the battlefield showing Al Houthis fleeing under a heavy gunfire attack by government forces.
In the southern province of Shabwa, the state-run Saba news agency said that at least 12 Al Houthi fighters were killed and several other injured in air strikes and clashes with government forces in Bayhan district.
