Government forces in Yemen now control the key Bab al-Mandab Strait through which much of the world’s maritime traffic passes after retaking it from the Houthis, Yemeni military officials and a general involved in the offensive said on Friday.
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Sana’a (Alliance News) – Forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led military alliance, regained the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait from Iran-backed rebels, a military official said Thursday.
The Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi rebels in Yemen says it has seized an Iranian fishing boat loaded with weapons for them in the Arabian Sea.
Al-Wahijah is located in Taiz province, which the Houthis captured in March as they began advancing on the strategic southern port city of Aden, to which Hadi had decamped after losing Sanaa, before he was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia.
Houthi officials said their forces have repelled attacks against their positions in the area.
The spokesman for the coalition, Brig Gen Ahmed Al Assiri, denied the allegation, saying: “The coalition did not conduct any air strikes in the area over the past three days”.
The Houthis still control the capital and northern provinces near the border with Saudi Arabia.
“We managed today to take back Bab El Mandeb and Dhubab with heavy fighting after having received reinforcements from Aden”, said military official Abedrabbo Al Mihwali.
Six months of civil war and hundreds of coalition air strikes have killed more than 5,400 people in Yemen, according to the United Nations, and exacerbated widespread hunger and suffering.
In recent months, pro-Hadi forces have made territorial gains in southern Yemen.
The Dutch-drafted United Nations rights council proposal had called for a full inquiry into violations in Yemen since September 2014.
Mr. Hadi said that Yemen had appealed to neighbouring countries for assistance in tackling the Houthi militias, and that the response was a “courageous one”, particularly from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which, he said, had “acted with utter determination”.
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After securing the support of the USA and Britain, the Saudi resolution was adopted by the UN’s top rights body on Friday by consensus.
