Yemeni army, Houthis trade blows in eastern Sanaa

By Ali Eweida

SANAA, Yemen

Nine Shia Houthi militants and two Yemeni soldiers were killed on Tuesday in clashes that erupted in eastern Sanaa, according to a local military source.

“Clashes broke out after Houthi fighters tried to infiltrate army positions in the ​​Mount Dawa region of Sanaa’s eastern Nahm directorate,” the source, speaking anonymously for security reasons, told Anadolu Agency.

“Yemeni army forces repulsed the infiltrators, killing at least nine and injuring several others,” he said.

The same source went on to assert that at least two Yemeni soldiers had been killed in the melee.

Houthi spokesmen, for their part, have yet to comment on the source’s claims.

The Yemeni army currently controls most of the Nahm directorate, from which it is staging a gradual advance on the nearby Houthi-held Arhab directorate.

Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia group and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran capital Sanaa and a number of other provinces.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign to support Yemen’s embattled Saudi-backed government.