Four other southern provinces – Lahj, Daleh, Abyan and Shabwa – were also re-taken in the offensive.
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Military sources in Aden told several Yemeni media outlets that a Sudanese force consisting of 400 officers and soldiers has arrived Monday morning at Al-Zait seaport in Al-Braiga. This latest arrival is in addition to the hundreds of Sudanese troops that had earlier arrived in Aden on 17 October. A few of them were deployed in the southern port and the strategic Al Anad airbase in adjacent Lahj province, the source said.
Loyalist forces also clashed with Iran-backed Houthi rebels and their allies on the outskirts of Daleh’s second-largest city Damt on Friday, the sources said.
At least 16 people, including nine loyalists, were killed in the clashes and many wounded, the sources said.
A similar call was made in the coastal city of Dhubab, near the Bab al-Mandab strait, where the rebels achieved a “limited advance” during the weekend, a military source said.
The Saudi-led coalition, in which the United Arab Emirates has played a key role, has been battling rebels who since previous year have controlled the capital Sanaa and much of northern and central Yemen.
They have allied with forces loyal to ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Ministers only returned to Aden in mid-September from six months in Saudi exile after fleeing with Hadi.
Hadi designated Aden, where the humanitarian situation has drastically deteriorated during fighting, as the temporary capital.
Human rights groups and worldwide organizations have voiced deep concern over the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen, calling for an end to the conflict.
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for a visit that comes amid a United Nations push for peace talks in Yemen, where Riyadh has been waging an air war.
