Taiz-The air campaign carried out by the Saudi-led Arab coalition continued zeroing in on coup militants located in Yemen’s Taiz.
Top Houthi commander Abu Nasr Alkhawlany along with eight of his companions had been reportedly killed by a recent coalition-staged raid on the coup’s pit in Alrawd village, located west of Taiz on Friday.
Arab coalition airstrikes mostly targeted reinforcement fighters and artillery warehouses belonging to Houthis and allied coup militias. Over ten militants were reportedly killed on Friday.
The operation in Taiz -Yemen’s third largest city- had cost grave losses among the ranks of the insurgency.
Howitzer ammunition, in addition to self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons found in Houthi depositories, were destroyed, eyewitnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Fighters supporting ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, allied with Iran-backed Houthis, had reported grave losses as well.
The Arab intervention led by Saudi Arabia backs pro-legitimacy forces, chiefly composed from the national army and supporting popular movements, in a civil conflict which pits Iran-backed Houthi militias staging a coup against the nationally elected government.
Rural areas in Hayfan and As Silw, both districts of Taiz, witnessed continued fighting between pro-legitimacy forces and anti-government combatants.
The Yemeni army and Popular Resistance Forces launched on Friday a major offensive against Houthi and Saleh sites in Taiz, southwest of the country.
The national army and popular resistance made advances on several fronts, and have been achieving great success, Yemeni security sources said.
Yemeni pro-government forces resumed military campaigns in coordination with the Arab coalition forces.
Political and economic war against Houthi-spurred chaos continues as Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi sacked the head of the central bank and ordered that it be relocated to the southern city of Aden.
The move would ramp up pressure on Houthi rebels who had been reportedly squandering the national bank’s assets on war and armament.
Yemen’s limited oil revenues flow to the central bank. Hadi’s ordered relocation would therefore deprive the Houthis of a potential source for cash.
Hadi had been carrying out institutional reform and measures since his return to the nation’s temporary capital, Aden, from exile in Saudi Arabia–Houthi fighters had overrun Yemen’s primary capital, Sana’a.
Alternatively, authorities reported the death of a Saudi border guard by a Houthi-fired shell from Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, in a statement, said that the attack took place on Thursday.
The shell landed in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan province, which borders Yemen. Cross-border fire has targeted Saudi security agents and civilians since the launch of the Arab intervention to salvage Yemen.