250 Houthis Killed in Marib, Taiz Battles as Yemen Army Makes Advances

Yemeni forces west of Taiz on Tuesday. (AFP)
Yemeni forces west of Taiz on Tuesday. (AFP)
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250 Houthis Killed in Marib, Taiz Battles as Yemen Army Makes Advances

Yemeni forces west of Taiz on Tuesday. (AFP)
Yemeni forces west of Taiz on Tuesday. (AFP)

The Yemeni army continued to make advances in the battlefronts in the Marib, Taiz and Hajjah provinces dealing the Iran-backed Houthi militias heavy losses.

Military media said at least 250 Houthis were killed in the fiercest battles yet to take place in the three provinces.

Defense Minister Mohammed al-Maqdashi stressed on Tuesday that the legitimate authorities were determined to restore the state’s authority and end the Houthi coup.

The people, armed forces and legitimate leadership are determined to defeat the militias and liberate the Yemenis from the crimes, violations and suffering imposed by the terrorist Houthis, he added as he toured the al-Kasara frontlines west of Marib.

He said that the Houthis had amassed all of their forces, tanks and weapons, some of which they had seized and others which were provided by Tehran, towards their final stand on the border between Marib and al-Jawf.

Their forces, however, have fallen before the perseverance of the army, he declared.

On the ground, the military managed to turn around Houthis lines in al-Kasara and cut their supply routes amid heavy fighting and coalition air strikes that destroyed the militias’ reinforcements.

A field source said at least 80 Houthis were killed and dozens wounded in the fighting. The coalition destroyed six Houthi vehicles that were bringing in reinforcements, killing everyone on board.

In Hajjah, military media said 28 militants were killed during battles with the army on the Abs district front. Field sources estimated that some 100 Houthis have been killed in two days of fighting there.

Meanwhile, military sources said the army has made significant advances on the Jabal al-Habshi front west of Taiz amid a complete collapse in Houthi ranks. The forces launched a widescale attack on the al-Ainain front, liberating several areas.

Dozens of Houthis were killed and injured in the fighting.

The army underlined the importance of regions that were liberated north of Jabal al-Habshi, saying that they overlook the main route (Hajda-al-Ramada) that connects Taiz city to the Hodeidah province.

Government forces in Taiz are seeking to capture the strategic town of al-Burj and complete the liberation of northwestern regions in the province.

In retaliation to their losses on various fronts, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at residential neighborhoods in northwestern parts of Marib city.

Medical sources in Taiz said that Houthi shelling on villages in Maqbana left a child dead and another wounded.

Yemeni rights groups have said that Houthi ballistic missiles and armed drone attacks on residential and civilian areas in Marib have killed 918 civilians, including women and children.



The Arrest of Aws Salloum: What We Know About the ‘Azrael of Sednaya’

Photo of Salloum circulated on X
Photo of Salloum circulated on X
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The Arrest of Aws Salloum: What We Know About the ‘Azrael of Sednaya’

Photo of Salloum circulated on X
Photo of Salloum circulated on X

The name Aws Salloum, nicknamed the “Azrael of Sednaya,” has dominated social media over the past few hours. Syrian activists widely shared images of him in detention, alongside a resurfaced video of Syrian activist Mazen Hamada, who suffered torture in Syrian prisons and spoke of a jailer referred to as “Azrael.”

The “Radaa al-Adwan” (Deterrence Against Aggression) operations room announced the capture of the “Azrael of Sednaya,” accused of torturing and killing numerous prisoners. According to the announcement, Salloum was arrested during Thursday’s raids in Homs targeting remnants of the Assad regime.

Who Is Aws Salloum?

Syrian activists circulated videos showing a man arrested in Homs, identified as Aws Salloum. Salloum hails from the village of Al-Qabo in rural Homs, an area known for its loyalty to deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian revolution.

He joined the security forces of the Assad regime, where he gained notoriety for his brutality, as evidenced by survivor testimonies. He earned the nickname “Azrael of Sednaya” due to his heinous methods of torture and execution in Sednaya Prison, infamously referred to as the “human slaughterhouse.”

According to survivor accounts reported by the media, Salloum was responsible for the execution of over 500 detainees in gruesome ways, including crushing prisoners’ heads with concrete blocks. Former prisoners described Salloum as one of the most brutal jailers, employing extreme violence to maintain control and instill terror among inmates.

Activists also shared an old video of Syrian dissident Mazen Hamada recounting his experience with a jailer nicknamed “Azrael.”

In the video, Hamada said: “There was a man who called himself Azrael. He would come to us in the hospital at midnight, drunk. He would ask, ‘Who wants medicine?’ A young man from Daraya warned us, ‘Don’t raise your hands.’ When I asked why, he replied, ‘Do you want to die? If you raise your hand, you’ll be killed.’”

Hamada continued: “A man from Ghouta said, ‘I do.’ Azrael of Sednaya responded, ‘The Divine Court sentences you to death,’ and proceeded to beat him with a metal rod tipped with nails until he decapitated him.”

Mazen Hamada himself was later killed under torture in Syrian prisons. His body was discovered at a military hospital after al-Assad’s fall.

After the ousting of the Assad regime on December 8, opposition armed factions opened all prisons across the country, releasing detainees. This revealed the extent of the horrors committed in these facilities, with Sednaya Prison standing out as one of the most notorious sites of abuse. However, the fate of thousands of disappeared and detained individuals remains unknown, while mass graves continue to be unearthed across the country, bearing testimony to years of war crimes and atrocities.