Yemen: pro-Hadi forces say 15 of Houthis killed

By Murad al-Arifi

SANAA, Yemen

At least 15 Shia Houthi militia were killed in clashes Tuesday in the provinces of Taiz and Al-Jawf, according to the pro-government Information Center.

The center said one of the fighters loyal to President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi was killed in the clashes and Houthis rebels are evacuating residents from a village in Taiz in order to convert it into a military zone.

Separately, a military source told Anadolu Agency that Houthis and forces that support exiled President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday managed to retake sites south of Taiz that were controlled by pro-Hadi forces.

The source, who was not authorized to speak to the media and wanted to remain anonymous, said pro-Hadi forces "were not able to maintain their military gains they had achieved in Monday’s battles."

Large numbers of residents had displaced from their homes because of the ongoing battles in Taiz, he added.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of the country, forcing members of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

The conflict escalated in March of last year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Muslim allies launched a massive military campaign aimed at reversing Houthi gains in Yemen and restoring the country’s embattled government.