Coalition in deadly strike on Al Houthis

DOZENS OF MILITANTS, INCLUDING LOCAL IDEOLOGUE ABU AYAD, KILLED IN HAJJAH

In Yemen’s north-west province of Hajjah, a major battlefront, dozens of Al Houthi militants were killed in a coalition air strike in the district of Abs, Yemeni news portal Adan Al Ghad reported yesterday.

The fatalities included local Al Houthi ideologue Abdul Aziz Al Houri, aka Abu Ayad, according to the report.

The strike targeted a meeting of Al Houthi extremists in Hajjah. An unspecified number of Al Houthi militiamen were also injured as a result of the strike and taken to the Abbas hospital, the site said.

Yemeni government forces, backed by an Arab coalition, have advanced into a mountainous stronghold of Al Houthis’ top leader in the north of the war-hit country, military sources said yesterday.

Recaptured

The Yemeni army has recaptured several positions in the district of Marran in the province of Saada near the Saudi border after they stormed it from four directions, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday.

Leader of the Iran-allied militia Abdul Malek Al Houthi is believed to be hiding in Marran from which he and other key members of his rebel group hail.

Supported by heavy coalition air strikes, the Yemeni army is moving ahead inside Marran in the south-west part of Saada, Al Arabia added, citing a senior commander.

“Al Houthi militias have suffered heavy casualties in Marran,” Major General Abdul Karim Al Sadai, the chief of the army’s Al Aruba Brigade, added. Marran is symbolically important for Al Houthis. Abdul Malek’s brother, Hussain, was killed by the Yemeni army in a Marran cave in 2004.

Al Houthis have repeatedly used Saada as the launch pad for firing missiles into Saudi Arabia, which is leading the Arab coalition fighting the Iran-aligned extremists.

Campaign

In recent weeks, Yemeni forces, supported by an air coalition cover, has pursued a multi-front campaign against Al Houthis who ousted the internationally recognised government in late 2014.

In 2015, the Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, intervened in Yemen in response to a request from its government against Al Houthis after the militants advanced on the southern city of Aden, the temporary capital of the country after their takeover of the capital Sana’a in September 2014.