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Houthi attack on Yemen’s Taiz base kills 11

January 23, 2018 at 12:00 pm

11 were killed by the Houthis in southern Taiz, Anadolu Agency reported today, in a shelling attack on a military base which Major General Ali Naser Lakhshaa, Yemen’s deputy interior minister, narrowly survived.

“Eleven people were killed and dozens injured in the attack”, medical representative Moaz Mahyub said.

The pro-Houthi Al-Masira television, citing a military source, confirmed the attack, saying the barracks were hit by a ballistic missile.

Since the killing of Ali Abdullah Saleh in early December last year, Yemen’s army led by internationally recognised president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has launched an assault to retake regions in Yemen under control of the Houthis. The new alliance has been joined by United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed forces, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), and the Tihama tribe located on the west coast. The new alliance recaptured the district of Khokha in December.

Late last week, the UAE-backed southern transitional council declared a state of emergency and vowed to overtake the Hadi government, marking the beginning of tensions within the alliance.

The UAE entered the Yemen civil war as part of a Saudi-led coalition to support military objectives in neutralising the Houthi group. Since 2017, the UAE has extensively supported the STC with its secessionist goals from northern Yemen, a political goal not mandated by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi when he originally invited the Saudi-led coalition back in March 2015.

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