Yemen’s internationally-recognized government confirmed its determination to liberate the southwestern province of Taiz from coup militias’ hold. For the past three years, the province has been under blockade and witnessed fierce battles.
Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr said that the legitimate government headed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi “pays particular attention to Taiz province.”
“The political leadership and the government are working hard to overcome the difficulties facing the heroes of the national army,” he said.
On the other hand, Iran-backed Houthi militias have announced the death of a senior Houthi military commander.
“Major-General Nasser Hussein al-Qubari was killed while carrying out his national duties,” Houthi-run SABA reported on Thursday.
This coincided with the killing of another senior military commander at the west coast battlefront in Yemen, where fighting continues amid a sweeping pro-government national army forces advance.
Coup forces have been struggling to regain positions lost.
“Houthi leader Lieutenant Colonel Amin Saleh Abdo al-Khudshi, an officer of the 33rd Armored Brigade and a number of his companions were neutralized by an Arab Coalition air strike on Wednesday evening in the west coast front of Taiz,” Taiz military center spokesman Col. Abdul Basset al-Bahr told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Yemen has been embroiled in a war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the internationally recognized government, which is allied with a Saudi-led Arab coalition, since March 2015. The coalition aims to restore the legitimate government of President Hadi to power.
Intense fighting continues to rattle Al Bayda province and west of Taiz, with Arab Coalition air support backing government fighters on the ground.
Alternatively, Coupists suffered large-scale losses in combatants and arsenal north of Taiz.
“Houthis blew up civilian homes in retaliation for mounting losses in their battles with pro-government popular resistance from the people of the region,” local sources in Al Hima neighborhood in Taiz told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Sources also said that coup militiamen had destroyed an underground water well, which disabled a number of water pumps. The damage done to the water network is believed to forcibly displace locals and isolate the region.
Houthis have also taken a number of people, including women and children as hostages to later be used as human shields, pushing civilians to the front line in battles with the Popular Resistance.
