Yemen conflict: Hadi loyalists seize largest military base from Houthis

The seizure of Al Anad military base, once the hub of a U.S. drone war against Al Qaeda’s potent Yemen branch, would mark a significant gain for the Saudi Arabian-backed troops fighting to reclaim large tracts of territory from Shiite Muslim rebels known as Houthis.

Al-Anad was once the site of US operations against al-Qaida’s Yemeni affiliate.

The bottom in southern Yemen sits at a strategic crossroads on the best way to Taizz, the nation’s third-largest metropolis and the main target of intense fight between Houthi militias and pro-Hadi forces.

Former Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled the country for decades before Hadi’s brief reign, called on Hadi to be charged with treason for enlisting Saudi help in trying to control the country.

“The Saudi-led coalition is training anti-Houthi forces, providing them with new weapons to build a new army from scratch”, our correspondent said. In April, the Houthis also managed to capture Yemen’s southern Aden province, from which Hadi – along with most of his government – was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia.

The coalition’s efforts have been largely in support of Hadi loyalists, with an ultimate goal of restoring the deposed leader.

The pro-government troops deployed heavy armour supplied by their backers in the assault on Al- Anad base, some 60 kms (35 miles) north of Aden, military sources said.

There was no word from the Houthis on the outcome of the battle.

The latest unrest in Yemen began last year when the Houthis, a group that hails from the northwest and adheres to the Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam, began to take over state-owned infrastructure and marched on the capital, San’a, in September.

Militias siding with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled Yemen for Saudi Arabia in March, and army units trained and equipped by Gulf Arab countries have made advances against the Iranian-allied Houthis in recent weeks. “The Obama administration has said that the Saudis are exaggerating the ties between Tehran and the Houthi rebels, who control Sanaa, the capital, and other parts of Yemen”, it continues. “Fighters recaptured the city from the Houthis last month”. They, in fact, appear to be Leclerc battle tanks, a French fighting vehicle exported to the UAE. They couldn’t give an exact number of casualties but said some Yemen troops were wounded. The arrival of the Emirati brigade, though, marked the first time a large foreign force had entered the ground war.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters. He said the two countries’ aggressive military intervention said a great deal about their concerns over Iran’s expanding influence.