Yemeni army kills 97 militiamen, captures 120 following attack on Houthi sites

Wed 15 May 2019:

Yemeni government forces, backed by the Arab Coalition, killed 97 Houthi militiamen and captured 120, including commanders, in the governorate of Al-Dhalea south-west of Yemen, military sources confirmed to Al Arabiya on Wednesday. During the battle in the city of Qa’atabah, north of Al-Dhalea, government forces were able to push Houthis to retreat to the areas of Maazoub and Al-Famer. The government forces had launched a surprise attack on Houthi posts in Al-Daaeri Al-Gharbi in Qa’atabah, and burnt some of their military vehicles. Special forces are now securing the city’s neighborhoods and searching for Houthi militia cells.

On Sunday, around 40 Houthis, including commanders, were killed in confrontations with the national army north of Al-Dhalea. Confrontations had erupted in several areas in the southern outskirts of Qa’atabah as well. Army forces shelled Houthi posts in Humran al-Sada, Dar al-Soqma and Maazub Amer, north and west of Qa’atabah. According to eyewitnesses in the city of Damt, the bodies of 20 Houthis arrived to the city from the Maryas front. Meanwhile, Arab Coalition forces destroyed Houthi military vehicles in Hajjah on Tuesday, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

According to the Ministry of Defense’s official website ‘September Net’, the Coalition airstrikes targeted a Houthi camp in the Abs district, west of Hajjah, killing and wounding several Houthi members and destroying six tanks. The Coalition’s airstrikes also targeted Houthi sites in Al-Jar farms in Abs destroying two vehicles and two platforms used to fire Katyusha rockets. Yemen’s army forces, backed by popular resistance, also targeted rallies and gatherings of Houthis militias in the central Al-Baidha province on Wednesday.

According to ‘September Net’, the army forces launched rockets targeting Houthi fighters’ gatherings in the Qirba area, in Zahir district, destroying a combat car and killing three Houthi members, while injuring others. On Tuesday, Yemen’s Houthi-run Masirah TV had cited a military official saying seven drones staged attacks on vital Saudi installations. Two oil-pumping stations for the East-West pipeline were hit by explosive-laden drones, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid al-Falih said, calling the attack “an act of terrorism” that targeted global oil supplies.

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