8 Hezbollah men killed in coalition’s Saada push

UN ENVOY DUE IN ADEN TOMORROW FOR TALKS WITH HADI

The Saudi-led Arab coalition battling militias in Yemen yesterday said its forces killed eight terrorists of Lebanon’s group Hezbollah in northern Yemen, near the Saudi border.

“The coalition killed 41 terrorist elements in Maran and destroyed their vehicles and equipment. Among the dead were eight members of Lebanese Hezbollah, including a commander,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al Maliki said.

Maran is in Saada province, a stronghold of Al Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran. It was the first official announcement by the coalition of Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists being killed in Yemen although Al Maliki told AFP it was “not the first time”.

Saudi air defence forces intercepted two rockets over Riyadh late on Sunday, sending debris measuring up to several metres hurtling towards residential areas.

Meanwhile, Yemeni resistance forces pressed on with their advance on the Al Houthiheld coastal city of Hodeida, military sources said.

Earlier this month, the forces, supported by the coalition, unleashed a major offensive to liberate Hodeida in western Yemen from Al Houthis. Coalition forces have since made territorial gains, including recapturing the city’s airport, which lies around 10km from its vital harbour.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths is due in the southern city of Aden tomorrow for talks with Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the exiled government’s temporary capital, officials said. One official said Griffiths would be there only for a few hours for talks focused on averting an assault on the Hodeida port.

“There is a proposal on the table,” the foreign minister of Hadi’s government, Khaled Al Yamani, told reporters in Riyadh.

“We would accept a peace initiative on the condition that militias leave the western coast,” he said at a joint press conference to announce a $40 million project launched by Saudi Arabia for demining operations in Yemen. The “Saudi Humanitarian and Biological Demining Project” (Masam), to be implemented by Saudi cadres and international expertise, also aims at helping Yemeni people to overcome the humanitarian tragedies caused by the spread of mines.

The coalition killed 41 terrorist elements in Maran and destroyed their vehicles and equipment. Among the dead were eight members of Lebanese Hezbollah, including a commander. Colonel Turki Al

Maliki | Coalition spokesman

Yemeni government forces yesterday pressed on with their advance on the militant-held costal city of Hodeida, military sources said.

Earlier this month, the forces, supported by a Saudi-led air alliance, unleashed a major offensive to liberate Hodeida in western Yemen from Iran-allied Al Houthis.

Coalition forces have since made territorial gains, including recapturing the city’s airport, which lies around 10 kilometres from its vital harbour.

“The whole Western Coast has been liberated,” said Brig. Abdu Majli, the spokesman for the Yemeni army.

“We have reached to the edges of Hodeida city,” he told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television.

Al Houthis have been in control of the Red Sea city since October 2014, a month after they seized the capital Sana’a from the internationally-recognised government.

The fight for Hodeida has raised international concerns about the humanitarian situation of the city’s population of about 600,000 people.

“We have a plan to protect the citizens inside the city and impose a siege on Al Houthi officials,” Majli said.

Using civilians

The Arab coalition accuses Al Houthis of using civilians in the city and positioning military hardware in residential areas in order to hamper its forces’ advance into Hodeida.

The alliance also charges Al Houthis with using Hodeida as a launch pad for attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and for smuggling in weapons from Iran.

Hodeida is strategically important because its port is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, as most of the commercial imports and relief supplies to the country enter here.

“We want to transform the harbour, from a point of smuggling weapons for Al Houthis into an artery for the Yemeni people to get humanitarian aid,” Majli said.

Yesterday, the coalition said its forces killed eight terrorists of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in northern Yemen, near the Saudi border.

“The coalition killed 41 terrorist elements in Maran and destroyed their vehicles and equipment. Among the dead were eight members of Lebanese Hezbollah, including a commander,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al Maliki said in a statement.

Maran is in Saada province, an Al Houthi stronghold.

Hezbollah role

It was the first official announcement by the coalition of Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists being killed in Yemen although Al Maliki told journalists it was “not the first time”.

In a November interview with CNN, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir accused Hezbollah of firing a missile provided by Iran at the kingdom from Yemeni territory.

On Friday, the UAE unveiled a detailed plan to make sure vital aid reaches Hodeida citizens in need.

In recent weeks, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have intensified aid deliveries to Yenen, including liberated areas in Al Hodeida.

The Yemen government said it would also set up a field hospital in the area opf the Western Coast.

Al Houthis have in recent months ramped up missile attacks against neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday, Saudi air forces intercepted and destroyed two missiles fired by Al Houthis towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Al Houthi leader captured

Meanwhile, the Yemeni army said yesterday its forces had carried out an operation in the province of Saada

The operation resulted in the capture of a senior Al Houthi leader and seven military experts from the Iran-allied Hezbollah group.

At least 2,000 Al Houthis have been killed in a week-old fight between pro-government forces and the militants in Sa’ada, Maj Gen Abdul Karim Al Sadai, the commander of the Third Brigade, said, according to the Yemeni army’s website.

In 2015, the coalition, which includes the UAE, launched a military campaign in Yemen after Al Houthis advanced on the southern city of Aden, the temporary seat of the government, after the militants overran Sana’a in a coup months earlier.