Yemen officials: Al-Qaida exploits chaos to seize 3 towns

Sources in Yemen’s government confirmed the move, though there has been no official announcement, and Yemen’s exiled information minister said on Tuesday that commercial flights would be diverted from the capital to the southern port of Aden.

Gulf Arab countries have backed with air strikes and weapons deliveries a northward advance by fighters from Southern Yemen fighters.

Yemen descended into chaos last September, when Houthi militiamen overran capital Sanaa.

The security officials say the extremist group seized government buildings without a fight and turned them into military bases.

A Red Cross statement said seven Huthi rebels were transferred from Aden to Sanaa.

A Saudi Arabian soldier has been killed in shelling on the border with Yemen, the military said late on Wednesday, adding to a rising toll in the kingdom’s south over the past week.

It was the first prisoner exchange involving an worldwide organisation and may signal progress toward ending the conflict which has killed more than 4,000 people.

They have been resisting the offensives of Pro-Hadi forces coupled with airstrikes for months but it seems as if their defense lines are weakening with withdrawal reports becoming frequent.

Tribal and military sources said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia had sent new military equipment including tanks into Yemen to support Hadi loyalists.

“These military reinforcements came from Saudi Arabia’s Sharura region and are intended for the popular resistance and the national army”, another military source said, referring to forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, now in exile in Riyadh.

The Houthis still control the vast majority of the country, while Aden itself is under the control of Saudi allies, including some ground troops from the United Arab Emirates who arrived earlier this week. After months of fierce fighting, pro-government forces recently routed the rebels from Aden and have since been pushing north of the coastal city.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition that has been bombing Shiite rebels in neighboring Yemen, not far from Abha, since March.