TAIZ, Yemen
At least 29 people were killed on Friday in separate clashes between Shia Houthi militants and supporters of Yemen’s president-in-exile, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, according to local tribal and pro-Hadi sources.
Pro-Hadi sources said at least 20 Houthi militants were killed in the fighting – which remains ongoing – across Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province.
According to local tribal sources, Houthi militants also staged an attack on the town of Arbah in the Sanaa province in which at least nine civilians were killed and several homes destroyed.
Yemen descended into chaos last September, when Houthi militias overran capital Sanaa. In April, the Shia militant group also managed to capture Yemen’s southern Aden province, forcing President Hadi – along with most of his government – to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Recent weeks, however, have seen pro-Hadi forces – backed by Saudi-led air power – retake most of the coastal province, allowing for the return of several Yemeni government officials from Riyadh.
President Hadi himself, however, has yet to return to the war-torn country.
Nearly 2,000 Yemeni civilians have been killed to date in the fighting between Houthi militiamen and pro-Hadi forces, the UN announced in early August.
