By Ali Owaida and Murad al-Arifi

MAARIB, Yemen

Government forces have recaptured several strategic positions in the Bayhan directorate in Yemen’s south-central Shabwah province from the Houthi rebel group, a Yemeni military source said Friday.

“Government forces -- two brigades and a battalion -- backed by [pro-government] popular resistance fighters on Friday launched a massive attack on Houthi positions in Bayhan,” a Yemeni army colonel, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on communicating with media, told Anadolu Agency.

“The army has since assumed control of several strategic sites, including the Al-Elm checkpoint and the Mafraq al-Sadi area,” he said.

According to the same source, the army is now on the verge of breaking a Houthi siege on Bayhan and restoring a strategic road linking the area to the Houthi-held Maarib province.

Dozens of Houthi militiamen were killed or injured in the melee, he said, while several government personnel -- he did not provide an exact number -- had been injured.

According to the army officer, clashes remain ongoing, with the army trying to maintain control over the Al-Nuqoub area, regarded as the Houthi’s main stronghold in Bayhan.

Ahmad al-Musabi, a spokesman for Yemen’s pro-government “popular resistance” forces, told Anadolu Agency that at least 15 Houthi fighters had been killed -- and 15 captured -- during Friday clashes in Shabwah.

A handful of military personnel and resistance fighters had also been killed, he said.

“Fierce clashes remain underway in Shabwah’s western Bayhan and Asilan directorates,” he added, going on to assert that pro-government forces had managed to capture the Al-Nuqoub area.

“Troops are now advancing on Bayhan’s regional capital,” he said, adding that the army had also managed to capture 30 Houthi militants and seize several vehicles.

In a related development, a Yemeni army officer said warplanes affiliated with a Saudi-led Arab coalition had struck several Houthi positions on Thursday in the Hais directorate of Yemen’s western Al-Hudeidah province.

The officer, who spoke to Anadolu Agency anonymously due to the issue’s sensitivity, said coalition warplanes had also targeted a vehicle in the Rasyan area of the southwestern Taiz province, killing all five civilian passengers.

The airstrikes come amid ongoing clashes between the Houthis and coalition-backed Yemeni government forces in and around Al-Hudeidah’s Al-Khokha directorate on the Red Sea coast.

Anadolu Agency was unable to obtain immediate comment from Houthi spokesmen regarding the sources’ assertions.

Yemen has remained gripped by violence and chaos since 2014 when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen and shoring up the country’s Saudi-backed government.