Dozens of Houthis killed in clashes with pro-coalition forces in southern Yemen

Southern Forces kill high-ranking Houthi commander

Yemen's Houthi rebels put on a military parade in the port city of Hodeidah. Yemen's Minister of Information, Moammar Al Eryani, Twitter.

Twenty-five Houthi rebels were killed in fierce clashes with the Southern Joint Forces in Yemen on Wednesday.

Troops from the Arab Coaltion-aligned forces launched a large-scale attack and drove the Iran-backed Houthis from sites in the southern Al Aoud area, said Capt Fuad Jubari, a spokesman for Al Dhalea Military Axis.

The area is on the borders of Al Dhalea and Ibb provinces.

Capt Jubari said the forces captured strategic sites including the hills of Al Hawa and Kuroud, and the plains of Al Batha.

Five soldiers from the Southern Forces died in the clashes, which lasted more than nine hours.

“Dozens of the Houthi fighters surrendered themselves after a strict siege around their sites by our forces,” Capt Jubari said.

He said the raid thwarted the rebels’ plans to push towards sites controlled by the Southern Forces in the north of Al Dhalea.

This week, the forces killed a high-ranking Houthi commander and five troops in Al Fakher, Ibb province, a source in the Southern Forces told The National.

The source said the commander was Sufyan Saleh, 55, a leader in Ibb province.

He said Saleh was a member of the Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee and was responsible for recruiting thousands of child soldiers from Ibb to fight in Al Dhalea.