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Prime minister Khaled Bahah returned from exile to the main southern city of Aden last week, but acknowledged that his government still faces challenges, even in the south.

Two Americans who were being held in the war-ravaged country have been released and sent to Oman, the White House said Sunday.

A statement from the National Security Council did not identify the Americans or detail the circumstances of their captivity or their release.

PM Khaled Bahah will hold a meeting in the next two days in Aden in which reconstruction and humanitarian relief top the agenda.

Yemeni Vice President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and his cabinet returned to Aden on Wednesday, saying they intend to run the country from there until they can go back to Sanaa.

Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen claim to have captured several troops from Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition against the insurgents, parading one of the soldiers on television.

Yemen’s Cabinet was back in the country after months spent in self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia and was working Wednesday out of the southern port city of Aden, a government spokesman said.

A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has stepped up its attacks on Iranian-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen’s central province of Marib, as its forces draw nearer to the capital San’a.

The Saudi-led anti-Houthi campaign, which came at Hadi’s request, seeks to restore the internationally recognized president and his government to power and has been ongoing since March 26.

Coalition officials have said they aim to move north to retake Sana’a from the Houthis, who are backed by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The BBC reports the strikes hit a bottling plant Sunday morning and that most of the dead were civilians.

Forty-five soldiers from the United Arab Emirates’ military, 10 from Saudi Arabia and five from Bahrain have been killed while taking part in a military campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in the deadliest day for Gulf forces since the conflict began.

The witnesses said the coalition warplanes pounded positions of the Houthi rebels and bases of splinter troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen’s exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has approved a plan to establish three military formations, made up mainly of tribal fighters and former military personnel, to fight the Houthi insurgency in the Tihamah region, a military official has said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The United Arab Emirates said Sunday that its military freed a British hostage who was kidnapped 18 months ago by al-Qaida in Yemen, which has expanded its reach amid fighting between Shiite rebels and their opponents.