Houthi rebels register gains in southern Yemen: Source

SANAA

The Houthi rebel group has made significant gains in Yemen’s Al-Dali and Al-Bayda provinces following clashes with government forces, a pro-government source said Wednesday.

“The Houthis have taken the Dhoran region a day after overrunning wide swathes of the Al-Hashaa directorate [in Al-Dali province],” the source told Anadolu Agency anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media.

According to the source, the Houthis are now fighting pro-government forces in the Al-Hashaa directorate’s Al-Masharih district.

The Houthis, the source went on to note, had also captured the strategic Al-Awd region in the Qatabah directorate (located east of Al-Hashaa) after several pro-government officers defected to the rebel group.

In Yemen’s central Al-Bayda province, meanwhile, the Houthis managed to capture the Dhi Naim directorate -- for the first time since 2015 -- after days of clashes with pro-government forces, the source said.

According to Houthi-run media outlets, the rebel group has recently succeeded in capturing 20 strategic positions across the Dhi Naim directorate.

Yemen has been wracked by violence since 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The ongoing conflict has wrecked much of the impoverished country’s basic infrastructure, prompting the UN to describe the situation there as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.