9 Houthis killed in attack against Yemeni govt forces

YEMEN

Nine Houthis rebels were killed in an attack against Yemen government forces in Yemen, authorities said Sunday.

Military spokesman for the Yemeni Joint Forces on the West Coast, Wadah Al-Dabish, told Anadolu Agency that 17 rebels were also injured in the attack on the Ad Durayhimi district south of Al-Hudayda.

Houthis have held the central and strategic port of Al-Hudayda in the capital of Sanaa and other regions since September 2014.

Government forces, however, control Al-Hudayda’s entry points in the south and east.

Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Since then, tens of thousands of Yemenis, including numerous civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, while another 14 million are at risk of starvation, according to the UN.

*Writing by Davut Demircan