ADEN // Yemen’s pro-government forces advanced on several fronts in Taez province on Sunday including the coastal Al Dhubab area where Houthi rebels were ousted from seven hills.
In Taez city, the popular resistance closed in on the Republican Palace in the Alkamb disrict and continued to besiege the camp of the Special Security Forces, a renegade unit of the Yemeni miltary allied to the rebels, in the Kilabah district.
The Iran-backed rebels were engaged on five fronts to split up their forces, said Moa’ath Al Yaseri, a resistance leader. The battles were launched in coordination with the Saudi-led regional coalition, which began air strikes against the Houthis on all the fronts from the early morning, he said.
“Clashes are ongoing at the Special Security Forces camp, the Republican Palace, Forty Metre Street, Al Dhubab and in the south of Taez province. The resistance advanced in Al Dhubab and took over seven hills that were under the control of the Houthis. The Houthis withdrew towards Al Robei area, which is still under their control,” Mr Al Yaseri said.
“Resistance fighters advanced close to the Republican Palace inside Taez and they are going to storm it soon,” he added.
The complex has changed hands several times and been all but destroyed in the fighting.
Medical sources said 13 Houthi rebels and eight resistance fighters were killed in Taez city on Sunday.
Clashes were continuing around the Special Security Forces camp, which the pro-government fighters besieged on Saturday.
Reports on Yemeni news websites suggested that the Special Security Forces commander in Taez city, Brigadier Hamoud Al Harithi, had fled to neighbouring Ibb province, which is under rebel control, but this could not be confirmed.
The gains by forces supporting President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi come after weeks of intense fighting in the provincial capital that have taken a heavy toll on the civilians and left them desperate for food, water, fuel and medical care.
Doctors Without Borders said on Sunday that weeks of negotiations with the Houthis to allow essential medical supplies into a besieged enclave of the city had failed and its trucks were again denied access to the area.
“The hospitals in this besieged area are seeing a large number of patients with war wounds,” said Karline Kleijer, the medical charity’s emergency manager for Yemen. “And yet we have been prevented from delivering essential medical supplies – including chest tubes, anesthetic drugs, IV fluid, sutures and antibiotics – to help staff provide lifesaving surgery.”
Before the conflict Taez had 20 hospitals for a population of more than 600,000, but only six of these continue to function, and often only partially, according to Doctors Without Borders.
Amid the fierce fighting in the city, the Houthi rebels blocked several roads, preventing people from leaving or entering.
Travel was also disrupted in Al Dhubab, which the coalition and loyalist forces have been battling to seize in their advance up the Yemen coast towards the port city of Mokha.
“I was driving from Sana’a to my village in Al Shimayateen district but I could not pass Al Dhubab area as the fighting has not stopped since early morning,” said Mohammed Sultan, a bus driver.
He saw the Houthis withdrawing after coalition jets targeted their positions in Al Dhubab and rebel reinforcements arriving from Al Robei district.
Meanwhile, armed tribesmen raided the central prison in the southern port city of Aden, killing a guard and wounding another, to free a prisoner held for an earlier attack in the city, a security official said.
Loyalist fighters and coalition forces liberated the city in July before driving the rebels out of five southern provinces.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting from Reuters
