ADEN // Government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition secured several victories in Yemen on Saturday, gaining ground west of the rebel-held city of Taez, killing 11 rebels in attacks on their positions on the Red Sea coast.
The assault on the coastal district of Dhubab, just 30 kilometres north of the Bab Al Mandeb strait linking the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, came after the government sent reinforcements from its headquarters in Aden.
Military sources said seven soldiers died in the fighting, including a general who was killed by a rebel sniper.
The spokesman of the military council in Taez, Mansour Al Hassani said Houthi rebels were in retreat after targeted air strikes enabled ground forces to advance and liberate Dhubab, Al Mansoura and the Al Omri Mountains in western Taez province. However clashes continued on Saturday around Al Omri military camp near Dhubab and it remained unclear whether the rebels had been completely dislodged after putting up fierce resistance, with many wounded on both sides.
The offensive was launched from Bab Al Mandeb, which is under government control, with five brigades under the command of former defence minister Haitham Taher and deploying armoured vehicles supplied by the UAE.
The government and its coalition allies, which include the UAE, recaptured the Bab Al Mandeb strait in October 2015. But the Houthis still control nearly all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast to the north, posing what the coalition says is a threat to international shipping.
In September and October, two US warships and a United Arab Emirates vessel contracted to the coalition were hit by missile fire from rebel-held territory.
The Yemeni conflict has killed more than 7,000 people since the coalition’s military intervention began in March 2015, according to the United Nations.
* additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
