Yemen crisis: Pro-government forces retake airbase near Aden

Fighters loyal to Yemen’s deposed president seized about 10 southern villages from Houthi forces on Tuesday, maintaining momentum in their offensive a day after capturing the country’s biggest air base, residents and loyalist sources said.

The recapture of the al-Anad base additionally opens up the street north to the town of Taiz, the place Iranian-allied Houthi militias have been locked in fight with native fighters siding with Hadi.

It was overrun by Houthi rebels as they advanced south in March, forcing President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.

Meanwhile Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Houthi ally, said he wanted Hadi tried for treason for enlisting Saudi help in the conflict.

Ministry officials and military leaders from the exiled government in Saudi Arabia are in the southern city of Aden, and the statement was issued from there. But if held, the seizure of the key base would represent a major boost for government troops in their efforts to wrest control of the country back from rebels.

“The next step for the popular resistance and army forces after liberating Aden is the clearing of the provinces of Abyan and Lahj”, a commander in the anti-Houthi forces told Reuters.

Reporting from this base, Al Jazeera’s Yasser Hasan said it was clear that the base was completely under the control of Popular Resistance Committees forces.

Sunni extremists of both Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have carried out deadly attacks against the Shiite rebels and their supporters, whom they regard as apostates.

They were accompanied by large numbers of southern militiamen who formed the core of the resistance to the rebels before the deployment of reinforcements trained and equipped in Saudi Arabia.

“We can see al-Anad from here too”, he said, describing it as “a very strategic airbase”.

Since last month, they have been supplied by sea in Aden, with new heavy and medium weapons and ammunition such as tanks, artillery, missiles and armored vehicles in shipments from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said Saudi-led air raids had repeatedly struck the military base.

The Yemeni army has been split since the Houthis’ advance past year.

Pro-government forces retook Aden from the rebels last month, bringing an end to air strikes in the city, but Sury said there were still snipers, and hospitals had to set up steel plates to protect their windows.

The Houthis broke out of their northern strongholds and seized control of the capital Sanaa in September, tipping Yemen into a regional conflict.