Yemeni gov't forces say over 500 soldiers killed during Houthi west coast offensive
Aden, Sep 13
Yemen's government forces said Sunday that more than 500 soldiers were killed and about 1,500 wounded in month-long battles with the Houthis along the western coast, as the group mounted a sweeping advance toward the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.
In a statement carried by Al-Joumhouriya TV, the government's National Resistance Forces said the casualties were recorded between August 9 and September 10, while claiming that more than 1,000 Houthi members were killed and thousands wounded. The figures could not be independently verified.
The statement said the fighting began with Houthi missile, drone and explosive-boat attacks before expanding from Hays in the southern part of the Red Sea province of Hodeidah to several fronts in neighbouring southwestern Taiz province, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The casualties came amid a sweeping Houthi offensive launched on September 3 that rapidly redrew front lines along Yemen's Red Sea coast, with the group capturing several government-held areas in Hodeidah province and neighbouring Taiz province.
The Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday before pushing south on Friday into the Bab al-Mandab area and seizing Mayun Island at the heart of the strait, tightening their grip on the vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi forces subsequently advanced farther south toward neighbouring Lahj province, where retreating government forces had regrouped, bringing the fighting closer to Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government.
Houthi group freed 210 of its members held by government forces after seizing a prison during its rapid advance along the country's Red Sea coast, a Houthi military official told Xinhua on Sunday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Houthi forces stormed a government-run prison after capturing the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha in southwestern Taiz province on Thursday.
"Before retreating, the mercenary forces gathered all 210 prisoners in a large hall and locked them inside," the Houthi official said, referring to government forces. "Our fighters broke into the facility and freed them."
— IANS
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