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Houthi Militia Top Wardog Killed in Midi District | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A member of the Houthi militia near vehicles destroyed by an airstrike in Sanaa, EPA


Taiz- Fierce clashes erupted between pro-government forces and insurgency militias in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, located just off the western front of Sanaa.

Fighting extended to Taiz as well, spreading across border territory shared with Saudi Arabia. Insurgency militias have recorded losses in both personnel and artillery.

Army intelligence based in the fifth military region, Midi district, reported the death of top militia commander Hussain Rashed Al Husowi along with 18 other militants. The militia ring was neutralized by an air raid staged by the Saudi –led Arab coalition forces.

Husowi was believed to have been responsible for the armament of insurgency gunmen across several battlefronts, especially those taking place in the Harad district. At least 27 other militiamen were injured by the strike.

The coalition’s command room also reported the destruction of a Tochka missile launch pad, along with a military wagon positioned west of the Harad district.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia along with other Arab states launched a military operation aimed at restoring the rule of Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Prior to the start of hostilities, Hadi’s government had been gradually overrun by an alliance comprised of Iran- aligned Houthi militiamen and loyalists of the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, making up the Houthi-Saleh forces.

The airstrike followed hours of violent clashes between national army forces, backed by the Arab Coalition air force, and militiamen overrunning the 25 Brigade Mika sector found in the Ibn Abdullah valley, a near border location.

The air operation led to the death and injury of a number of militiamen, in addition to the destruction of a militia BMP infantry vehicle loaded with a ZSU-23-4- styled weapon.

In August 2016, the United Nations estimated that the war had killed at least 10,000 people. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, there were 3,980 civilian casualties from the start of hostilities through September 2016. The war has taken a devastating toll on the population in a country long-considered the least developed in the Middle East and one of the poorest in the world.

“Militia forces continue staging fierce crimes and violations against unarmed civilians in Taiz, both against inner city residents and those residing in the countryside– the insurgency’s brutal shelling and destruction of homes is considered an escalation and an attempt to make up for losses,” military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.