SANA'A, Yemen
Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes hit a number of positions occupied by the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the central Yemeni province of Taiz on Sunday, according to eyewitnesses.
The strikes come a day after shelling from Yemen killed one Saudi border guard and injured seven others on border patrol with him on Saturday evening.
The airplanes carried out raids against camps used by the Special Security Forces, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter. The camps are controlled by the Houthis and pro-Saleh forces.
The Special Security Forces are a paramilitary force controlled by Yemen’s Ministry of Interior.
The airplanes also hit Jarra Mountain, which the Houthis are trying to control.
Since last night, the area has witnessed ongoing clashes between the Houthis and the pro-Hadi Popular Resistance Committees near a camp used by the Special Security Forces.
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi was elected president of Yemen in 2012, before being ousted by the Houthis last September.
He succeeded Saleh after the latter was overthrown during the course of the Arab Spring.
The Houd Al-Ashraf area also witnessed fierce clashes between the two sides, as the Houthis and pro-Saleh forces continue to fire missiles into residential neighborhoods in the middle of the city.
In the same vein, sources in the western province of al-Hudaydah said that coalition airplanes started a number of raids in the early hours of Sunday on Zuqar Island in the Red Sea.
An unknown number of Houthis and others stationed on the island were killed and injured by the raids.
Fighter planes from the Arab coalition also started raids against a checkpoint used by armed Houthis and loyalist forces on the western side of Attaq city, the capital of the southern province of Shabwah.
Houthi militants and pro-Saleh forces took control of Attaq city on April 9, 2014.
Local residents told Anadolu Agency that the coalition airplanes hit a checkpoint used for the al-Jalfouz district, located at the western entrance to Attaq city in Shabwah province.
The strikes resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, the exact numbers of which are still unknown.
A source from the Popular Resistance Committee in Shawbah province said that their fighters are gathering their strength anew in the Mawfa’a district after the Houthis took control of a nearby district.
Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when Houthi militants overran capital Sanaa from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.
On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive air campaign targeting Houthi positions across Yemen.
Riyadh says its campaign comes in response to appeals by Yemen's embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for military intervention against the Houthis.
The Houthis, for their part, denounce the offensive as unwarranted "Saudi-American aggression" against Yemen.
