YEMEN-SECURITY/TAIZ-HODIEDAH Anti-Houthi fighters seize Taiz, Saudi-led coalition strikes Hodiedah

Record ID: 143730

  • Title: YEMEN-SECURITY/TAIZ-HODIEDAH Anti-Houthi fighters seize Taiz, Saudi-led coalition strikes Hodiedah
  • Date: 16th August 2015
  • Summary: TAIZ, YEMEN (AUGUST 16, 2015) (REUTERS) VEHICLES CARRYING ARMED MEN LOYAL TO EXILED PRESIDENT ABD-RABBU HADI DRIVING NEAR AL-QAHERAH CASTLE OVERLOOKING THE CITY OF TAIZ VARIOUS OF HAMOOD AL-MIKHLAFI LEADER OF PRO-HADI MILITIA, WALKING WITH PEOPLE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET PEOPLE DANCING ON STREET HAMOOD AL-MIKHLAFI LEADER OF ARMED FORCES PRO-HADI, WALKING WITH PE
  • Embargoed: 31st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Yemen
  • Country: Yemen
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABDUHCNCR34QE1VAWD0KW59HKE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Yemenis from the central city of Taiz danced and celebrated on Sunday (August 16) as troops loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi paraded through the streets after defeating the Iran-backed Houthis.
    As Taiz residents cheered, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes pounded targets in the city of Hodeidah, home to the country's second largest port, hitting an air force base and a military officer's club that the Houthis use as a base.
    Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the scene of the airstrikes.
    The pro-Hadi militias fought their way deep into Taiz Sunday (August 16) pushing out Houthi militiamen from what is the country's third largest city.
    "There is great joy in Taiz province today and it is felt amongst the masses of the Yemeni people in Taiz and throughout all Yemeni provinces in general," said Taiz resident Ahmed Sharaf.
    "Because the resistance was able to push back (former President Ali Abdullah Saleh) and the Houthis from the heart of Taiz, thus from victory to victory," he added.
    The pro-Hadi tribal fighters seized a mountain top citadel and intelligence headquarters in the battles with the Houthis and allied Yemeni army units, including those loyal to former President Saleh, who control two military bases in the city.
    Tank battles and air strikes have rocked Taiz since April, when militia forces backed by Gulf Arab warplanes rose up against the Houthis.
    The combat has left much of the city in ruins and its residents pinned down inside their homes.
    A civil war in Yemen erupted in late March when the Houthis, who had seized the capital Sanaa last September, drove southwards, forcing the government to flee into exile in Saudi Arabia and triggering Gulf military intervention.
    The Arab states say the Houthis are a proxy for Iran, an accusation the movement denies, countering that its advance a revolution against corrupt officials backed by the West.
    More than 4,300 people have died in the conflict as hunger, disease and suffering have spread in the impoverished country.
    Fighting had been stalemated for almost four months but the Houthis' opponents have gained the upper hand with training and weapons deliveries by the Gulf states, and have seized several southern provinces in an advance northward toward Sanaa.
    Residents in the capital reported the first Gulf Arab air strikes on the city for about a month on Sunday targeting the main military airport and a weapons depot.
    The United Nations' envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has been shuttling between the warring sides, including the Houthis' representatives in neighbouring Oman, in an attempt to secure Houthi withdrawals from cities and spare Yemen's ancient capital from a devastating final battle.
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