Yemen's Houthi militia says advanced in another border district in Hajjah-Xinhua

Yemen's Houthi militia says advanced in another border district in Hajjah

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-03-16 22:47:26

SANAA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi militia on Wednesday said they advanced in the strategic district of Hayran in the northwestern province of Hajjah following a week long battle.

"We seized another 11 villages in the strategic district of Hayran, which stretching along 26 km square, and killed 200 soldiers in the offensive," Houthi-run al-Masirah TV quoted a military statement from the Houthi militia as saying.

The militia said their advance came despite heavy airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government army.

There has been no confirmation yet from the government army.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi militia for nearly seven years, with Hajjah as one of the critical battlegrounds.

In February, the Houthi militia drove the government forces out of Harad, a city in Hajjah, and has since controlled large areas of the province.

Hayran and Harad are located few miles away from the southern border of Saudi Arabia.

The escalation in Hajjah came after the militia lost several strategic districts in the oil-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib in central Yemen.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, displaced 4 million people and caused what the United Nations says the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.