Al Houthis suffer heavy casualties

GOVERNOR OF TAIZ AND SENIOR REBEL COMMANDER ESCAPE COALITION STRIKE

At least 30 rebels killed on Saturday and yesterday in fierce clashes in Nehim district, just outside Sana’a |

A t least 30 Al Houthi fighters were killed on Saturday and yesterday in fierce clashes in Nehim district, just outside Sana’a, while Saudi-led coalition fighter jets struck a convoy of senior rebel officials in Taiz, state-run media said yesterday.

The Taiz strike killed dozens of fighters on Saturday, local activists and media reports said.

The Al Houthi-appointed governor of Taiz Abdu Al Janadi and senior Al Houthi field commander Abo Ali Al Ahakim, narrowly survived death while dozens of their guards were killed in the attack in the Burah region of the Magbanah district.

Al Janadi previously served as the spokesperson for ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s party and Al Hakim is the Minister of Defence of the rebel group currently in charge of all military operations in the country.

In November 2014, the UN imposed sanctions on him for his vital role in orchestrating the Al Houthi takeover of Sana’a.

The Al Houthi-appointed deputy governor of Taiz, Ameen Haydan, was among those killed in the attack.

Bid to retrieve body

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence said that just outside Sana’a dozens of Iran-backed rebel fighters were killed in rugged terrain in Nehim while they were trying to retrieve the body of their field commander from the battlefield.

The ministry’s official news site, 26sepnews.net, reported that Al Houthis sent a group of fighters yesterday morning to bring back the body of Mutahar Al Ma’akhethi who was killed by government forces on Saturday night.

The fighters were killed before reaching the body of Al Ma’akhethi.

Fighting has been raging over the past week since government forces launched an offensive to break months of military impasse in Nehim’s rugged mountains.