Yemen forces kill two senior Al Qaida men
YEMENI FORCES ADVANCE ON AL HOUTHI POSITIONS IN MOKHA, JABAL AL SHABAKA
UAE-backed Yemeni Security Belt forces have killed two senior Al Qaida militants in the southern province of Abyan, scoring another victory in the battle against the militant group.
Hassan Basaria and Murad Doubali were killed in an intense gunbattle after refusing to surrender in Al Wadhea district, the birthplace of Yemen’s president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the security unit said in a statement.
They had been involved in plotting attacks against local security forces.
Al Qaida has largely failed to resurface in their former strongholds as thousands of Yemeni troops, trained and armed by the UAE military in Yemen, assert control over key urban and rural areas in Southern Yemen.
Meanwhile, Saudi-led coalition fighter jets have killed an Al Houthi navy commander responsible for smuggling arms and staging attacks against ships in the Red Sea.
Al Houthis targeted
Yemen Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that coalition fighter jets targeted a gathering of Al Houthi militants in the western port city of Hodeida, killing Mansour Ahmad Al Sa’adi and a number of his associates.
Al Sa’adi was described as an important Al Houthi smuggler and a commander of the movement’s navy soldiers who plotted attacks against military and humanitarian ships from the USA, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The death of Al Sa’adi comes as the Iran-backed militia officially mourned the death of brigadier Nasser Al Qubari, a former Republican Guard, killed in an air strike by the coalition jets on Wednesday.
Precision air raids by the coalition’s fighter jets have killed dozens of Al Houthi commanders, including military aides to Al Houthi leader, Abdul Malik Al Houthi.
Offensive intensified
The Saudi-led coalition has intensified their ground and air offensive in the province of Hodeida in an attempt to cut off the remaining smuggling routes on the Red Sea under Al Houthi control.
The Arab Coalition has advanced on Al Houthi militants in Mokha and Jabal Al Shabaka, alongside of a military operation by Yemeni forces on the Red Sea Coast, WAM reported.
Yemeni forces yesterday launched an attack on Al Houthi positions in the vicinity of the Khalid Bin Al Waleed camp and Jabal Al Nar, resulting in substantial losses for Al Houthis.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Defence Ministry mourned the death of Colonel Ali Abdullah Al Suaidi, the commander of Brigade 159, who was killed in clashes with Al Houthi militants on Al Abadia battlefield, east of the central province of Baydha.