Aden: At least 26 Yemeni fighters died in fresh clashes and an air strike as government forces advanced against Shia Houthi rebels near a key shipping strait, medics and officials said yesterday.
A week-long assault by government forces and their allies aims to expel the Iran-backed Houthis from Dhubab region, close to the Bab Al Mandab strait linking the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Twelve bodies of Houthi insurgents were taken early yesterday to a hospital in rebel-held Hodeida, a medical official said, adding that the facility received 23 others wounded.
He said the casualties were from clashes on Friday night in Dhubab.
An overnight air strike by a pro-government Arab coalition on a rebel assembly in Zaydiya, in Hodeida province, left another nine Houthis dead, a security official said.
The Red Sea port city of Hodeida lies some 200 kilometres north of Dhubab.
A medical official at a hospital in Aden said five pro-government fighters were killed in overnight clashes around Dhubab and 14 others wounded.
Forces loyal to President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi and allied fighters from the Popular Resistance have entered the town of Dhubab and seized its local government headquarters.
Popular Resistance commander Abdelrahman Al Muharami said the loyalists had also recaptured large parts of Al-Omeri military base in mountains overlooking the coast.
"There are still some rebel pockets" in the base, he said.
