The escalation comes as the exiled government backed out of a proposed new round of UN-brokered peace talks, insisting that rebels should withdraw from captured territory.
Advertisement
Ground troops, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, pushed forward in the disputed Marib province that borders the capital Sanaa, military officials said.
A Yemeni man stands amid the ruins of buildings destroyed in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition in the capital, Sanaa, September 10, 2015.
The pro-government forces have gained ground in recent weeks, retaking positions that the Houthis had claimed.
His government is operating from Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday, the United Nations said peace talks between Yemeni parties are set to resume next week and urged all factions to participate “unconditionally and in good faith”.
He also conceded that the coalition’s air strikes were causing “collateral victims”, so a new approach was needed in a conflict that has cost the lives of more than 4,500 people.
A Qatari official on Tuesday said Doha had dispatched 1,000 troops “ready to fight”, saying at the time that they were on the border with Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday, Hadi loyalists launched the “largest and fiercest offensive since operations began in Marib province”, the military official said, adding that the rebels were targeted in the Jufeinah, Faw and Thatt-Alra areas.
Hadi’s forces have recaptured five southern provinces including the port city of Aden since July. The Shiite rebels now control much of the country’s north. The continuing conflict has pitted Saudi Arabia against Iran in a battle for Middle East supremacy, while igniting Sunni-Shia tensions.
Out of their Al Aber base in nearby Hadramout province, government troops have moved towards four militia footholds in northwest Marib, on the route to Sana’a.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, a day after medics said six civilians in the city were killed by air strikes.
Advertisement
On Saturday, five suspected Al-Qaeda members were killed by an unmanned aerial drone in the eastern city of Mukalla.
