Yemeni government launches offensive on Houthis in Taiz

The Yemeni army and Popular Resistance Forces today launched a major offensive against Houthi and Saleh sites in Taiz, southerwest of the country.

A spokesman for the military council in Taiz, Colonel Mansour Al-Hassani, said that government forces launched a military operation in the western and north-eastern side of the city.

He added: “The national army and popular resistance advanced from several directions… and achieved great successes.” Fighting was ongoing he said.

The Saudi-led coalition’s fighter jets struck Houthi positions and those of forces loyal to the group and targeted sites on the western side of the city, Al-Hassani said. “They achieved their objectives accurately.”

Yemen has been lock in a bitter battle between Shia Houthi fighters allied with forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh and government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who is being backed by the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes.