Yemeni loyalists recapture areas on western outskirts of besieged Taez

The siege on Taez by the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has choked off food and medical supplies to large parts of the city since last August.

Loyalist Yemeni fighters celebrate after making gains against the Houthis and allied fighters in Taez province on March 11, 2016. EPA

ADEN // Yemeni troops and resistance fighters on Friday recaptured several areas on the western outskirts of Taez city after two days of fighting, while also launching an offensive to the east of the city in an effort to break a months-long siege by Houthi rebels.

Moa’ath Al Yaseri, a leader of the Popular Resistance in Taez province, said the pro-government forces had been targeting the Iran-backed Houthis with shelling and air strikes on the western front for two days.

“We have liberated Wadi Al Dohi, Beer Basha, Taez University, the old airport, the Brigade 35 [army base], Al Saqr [Falcon] Club and the surrounding areas and hills,” Mr Al Yaseri said.

These areas are on the outskirts of Taez city, around 10 kilometres from central areas. The pro-government forces were backed by Saudi-led air strikes while recapturing the Brigade 35 army base, considered the most important of their gains.

Mr Al Yaseri said dozens of Houthi rebels had been killed in the fighting and dozens more arrested. Several different kinds of weapons were seized from those arrested, he added, including Kalashnikovs, rockets and tanks.

He said other rebels had retreated towards the Shara’ab roundabout, which lies on the road to Al Hodeidah, a Houthi-held province that borders Taez province. The roundabout is located about five kilometres north-west of Taez city.

“I am calling on Houthis who are originally from Taez to join the resistance or at least to stop fighting with the invaders, otherwise we will not let them remain in Taez anymore,” Mr Al Yaseri said.

He added that pro-government forces on the city’s western outskirts were continuing to fight towards Al Dhabab district, while loyalist fighters already in Al Dhabab were advancing towards Beer Basha in a strategy to break the siege of Taez city.

“We reinforced the western front, and we are coordinating with the leader of the resistance in Al Dhabab to advance towards Beer Basha. There are fierce clashes in Al Dhabab and the forces there have started to advance.”

Mr Al Yaseri said that liberating the entire city of Taez, where the Houthis hold some areas, would take time, but that breaking the rebels’ siege on government-held areas of the city could happen within a matter of hours.

Pro-government forces plan to break the siege via a road into the city that leads from neighbouring Lahj province, he added. Loyalists are currently about two kilometres away from the point at which they could break the siege.

“The Houthis are still shelling houses in the Sina neighbourhood [in the middle of the city], but we will not respond to them on that front, as we are focusing on the western front to break the siege,” Mr Al Yaseri said.

Mr Al Yaseri said the pro-government forces had also suffered deaths and injuries in their ranks, but did not give exact tolls. He called on residents to donate blood for injured fighters at the only two hospitals in the city able to treat emergency patients.

The siege on Taez by the Houthis and allied forces loyal to Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has choked off food and medical supplies to large parts of the city since last August.

Faced with such shortages and regular shelling of civilian areas by the rebels, most of the city’s residents have fled to rural areas of Taez province, or to other provinces.

Fareed Al Homaid, a journalist based in Taez city, said pro-government forces were advancing quickly from the west and that there appeared to be disputes breaking out between the Houthis and Saleh loyalists.

“Some witnesses on Sixty Metre Street told me that a dispute broke out between the Houthis and Saleh loyalists because of one side confiscating the other’s weapons,” Mr Al Homaid said.

He said the main obstacle facing pro-government forces was the rebel fighters who are originally from Taez province, and that if these fighters withdrew support to the Houthis, then resistance forces would be able to quickly liberate Taez city.