A senior Houthi militia leader was killed along with a number of his other soldiers in Hajja province in north-west Yemen by an Arab Coalition air strike on Monday. A Yemeni military source confirmed that Houthi leader Mohamed Al Sufi, one of the most prominent field commanders in the Saada battlefront.
A fifth military region command statement issued by the media center said that coalition aircraft targeted al-Moayad and his soldiers in the Mazraq area, while heading towards the Alba front after attending a meeting with militia leaders.
The Houthi militia confirmed the death of al-Moayad on social networking sites where photographs of him with his father’s, who is dubbed the ‘teacher’ as he represents one of the most important religious references to the Houthis.
In the same context, A Yemeni army officer and nine Houthi fighters were killed Thursday in clashes that erupted in the town of Asilan in Yemen’s southeastern Shabwah province, according to a Yemeni military source.
“Houthi militiamen launched a major attack at dawn Thursday on Yemeni army positions in Asilan, prompting fierce clashes,” a Yemeni army colonel said. “Government forces and members of the [pro-government] popular resistance committees ultimately managed to repulse the attackers,” he said, preferring anonymity for security reasons.
The attack, he added, had left one army officer dead -- Colonel Al-Khader al-Jadani -- and two “popular resistance” volunteers injured. According to the same source, at least nine Houthi fighters were killed in the fighting. Spokesmen for the Houthis have yet to comment on the source’s assertions.
Yemen’s Shabwah province is comprised of 17 districts, 15 of which are currently held by government forces while much of the province’s Bihan directorate and parts of Asilan remain under the control of the Houthis and their allies.
Yemen has remained locked in a civil war since 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia group overran much of the country including capital Sanaa, forcing Yemen’s Saudi-backed government to set up an interim capital in the coastal city of Aden.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi military gains in Yemen. According to U.N. figures, more than 10,000 people -- including numerous civilians -- have been killed as a direct result of the conflict.
In the same context, Arab coalition strikes on Houthi’s training camps in west of Dhamar, south of Sanaa, killed at least 40 Houthi militiamen and injured others, local sources said. Meanwhile, Al Arabiya sources said Houthi commander of an artillery brigade Mohammed al-Soufi was killed by a coalition strike in Jawaf, north of the country.
Soufi, believed to be from Ibb, is considered a prominent commander among Houthis and forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The coalition also struck another training camp in Jaref, south of Sanaa.
Houthi militias and forces loyal to Saleh continue to target Taiz as after their defeat in the western front and deterring their attack on Jabal al-Han, they attacked the northern front and fired missiles on army posts and residential neighborhoods.