by Murad Abdu
ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni government forces managed Monday to recapture a number of neighborhoods from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah amid fierce street-to-street battles that left 139 killed from both warring sides.
Scores of airstrikes were launched by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition against the Houthi-controlled sites as the government troops continued pushing toward the heart of the heavily populated coastal city from different directions.
An army commander told Xinhua by phone that the government forces succeeded in seizing a number of neighborhoods in eastern parts of Hodeidah after several hours of fierce back-and-forth battles with the Houthi rebels.
The government forces engaged in intense street-to-street battles in other adjacent areas particularly in Rabseh neighborhood.
During the past few days, the government forces made significant progress in Hodeidah despite a large number of landmines and booby-trapped buildings, in addition to professional Houthi snipers who took positions on buildings inside residential neighborhoods, according to local sources.
"The government forces are now encircling Hodeidah and attempts are underway to completely cut the supply routes of Houthis," Colonel Khaled Abu Ali told Xinhua by phone.
"Houthis are now planting landmines everywhere in Hodeidah and even started in booby-trapping abandoned residential buildings," Abu Ali said.
He said that "a booby-trapped building exploded after government soldiers stormed it, causing a huge explosion that killed 13 soldiers."
He added that another 11 soldiers died when Houthi fighters targeted their vehicle with a short-range missile near Hodeidah's main entrance.
Meanwhile, medical sources at Houthi-controlled hospitals in Hodeidah said that more than 115 fighters of the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group were killed over the past 24 hours.
The death toll could rise as fighting is still taking place amid intensified airstrikes and artillery shelling.
The pro-government Giants Brigades set up checkpoints and started securing a number of government institutions as well as factories in the neighborhoods that have been seized from Houthis in Hodeidah, according to their media center.
Air-covered by warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition, the pro-government forces largely advanced on-ground and managed to enter a number of neighborhoods in Hodeidah after expelling the Houthi rebels.
The Saudi-backed government forces vowed to continue to push forward in an attempt to seize full content over the city's strategic port, but Houthis face the offense with stiff resistance.
Yemen's internationally-backed government and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly accused the Houthi rebels of using Hodeidah's port to smuggle Iranian weapons. Both Houthis and Iran denied the accusation.
Hodeidah is the most important and only point of entry for food and basic supplies to Yemen's northern provinces controlled by Houthis, including the capital Sanaa.
The Arab coalition intervened in Yemen's conflict in March 2015 to roll back Shiite Houthi rebels and reinstate Yemen's legitimate President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
