The province of Taiz witnessed a bloody day yesterday when violent confrontations raged between legitimate forces, the national army and the Popular Resistance on one hand, and Houthi militias and forces loyal to the deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh, on the other hand. These confrontations came amidst great progress made by the legitimate government’s forces on battle fronts through their confrontations with rebel militias.
National Army troops and the Popular Resistance managed to seize important sites and buildings that were under the rebel militias’ control. These include the house of Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, the brother of the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the Thabat neighbourhood, east of the city of Taiz. The building was seized after the rebel militia fled from it. They also abandoned an International Medical Corps (IMC) building which allowed heroes from the Popular Resistance to seize it yesterday morning. It was previously a major obstacle to the legitimate government’s progress because a number of snipers belonging to the rebel militias had been stationed in it.
A spokesman for the military council in the Taiz governorate Colonel General Mansour Al-Hassani told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Houthi militia and forces loyal to the deposed president Saleh have been bombing Taiz with all types of heavy weapons for four days, and dozens of bombs fall on neighbourhoods and residential areas on a daily basis”.
