28 June 2018•Update: 29 June 2018
By Murat al-Arifi
SANAA
Yemeni forces on Thursday captured a strategic area of the coastal Al-Hudaydah province from Houthi rebels while advancing towards the nearby Al-Tahita Directorate, according to a local military source.
According to Nasser Khaddam, a Yemeni army commander, pro-government forces have captured the Al-Faza district, located on the coast road linking the city of Al-Hudaydah to Yemen’s port city of Mocha.
“Yemeni forces have advanced 14 kilometers from Al-Faza towards the Mazaraa al-Nakheel area near the capital of the Al-Tahita Directorate,” Khaddam said.
Government forces, he added, had since imposed a siege on the area in preparation for launching a major offensive.
According to the army commander, “numerous” Houthi rebels have been killed by pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
Anadolu Agency was unable to obtain immediate comment from Houthi spokesmen regarding Khaddam’s assertions.
Since June 13, Yemeni government forces -- backed by a Saudi-led military coalition -- have waged a wide-ranging operation to retake Al-Hudaydah, along with its strategic seaport, from the rebels.
Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.
The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies -- who accuse the Houthis of serving as proxies for Shia Iran -- launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.
The following year, UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait failed to end the destructive conflict.
The violence has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.
