Security sources said that the commander of the Sarwah Front in the Huthi militias, Isma'il Muhammad Ali al-Shaabani, nicknamed "Abu Jihad", was killed in an air strike on Sarawah in Marib. Medical sources indicated that the leading Houthi leader died after being seriously wounded after his vehicle was targeted with an air strike on Sarawah.
A number of Al Houthi military leaders and at least two dozen others have been killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes or in fierce clashes with government forces on several flaring front lines in the last couple of days, Yemen’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.
The ministry’s official news site, 26septnews.net, said that fighter jets from the Saudi-led coalition killed Mahmoud Al Adbai and Abdul Aziz, identified as Al Houthi field leaders in the northern province of Hajja, while at least two dozen others were killed and injured in heavy clashes with government forces in Medi district.
The clashes erupted on Friday when rebels staged a counterattack to recapture strategic locations in Medi district, setting off clashes that lasted for hours.
The official Facebook page of the 5th Military Region also said on Saturday that the coalition’s fighter jets enabled government forces to push back Al Houthi fighters after hampering their logistics. Army commanders said that at least 20 Al Houthis were killed or wounded. Government forces are currently battling the rebels in some districts in the city of Medi after liberating the city’s seaport and fighting their way into Al Houthis’ remaining areas.
The ministry also said that an Al Houthi field commander called Ali Ahmad Al Kuhlani was killed by government forces in Al Mashba’a region of Baydha district. Government forces launched on Friday an attack on Al Houthi positions Al Mashba’a killing Al Kuhlani and several of his associates and seizing arms and ammunition.
Heavy clashes were also reported in the northern province of Jawf where government forces regained control of an area close to the strategic Al Khanjar military camp in the districts of Khab and Al Sha’af and repelled attacks by Al Houthi fighters.
Meanwhile in Marib’s Serwah district, Al Houthi’s last stronghold in the province, fighting raged on Saturday on two rugged mountains that overlook the district’s centre as government forces seek to completely cut the rebels off an important mountainous route that supplies their fighters in Marib with arms and ammunition from Sana’a.
Battles in Serwah have recently escalated as government forces launched an offensive aimed at liberating the district, opening a new front inside Al-Houthi-held Sana’a district and silencing Al Houthi rockets that hit Marib city, the base of thousands of government and coalition forces.
In Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, an Al Houthi sniper on Friday gunned down a 12-year-old boy when he and his family were returning to their home in Kelaba neighbourhood, northeastern the city. Several civilians were also injured in Al Houthi heavy shelling on populated residential areas in the city. Al Houthi fighters still occupy most of the city’s outskirts while government forces control the downtown and the western part of the city.