Yemen pro-government troops say have taken key base in south

Despite losing Aden, the rebels still control large swathes of Yemen, including Sanaa which they overran last September.

It was previously used by U.S. forces as an intelligence gathering hub and base for drone attacks on Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Pro-Saudi forces in southern Yemen today overran and captured the important military base of al-Anad, just 60 km from the southern port city of Aden. Other sources said that the Emiratis were serving as advisers, but not actually fighting.

Blocked from selling Yemen’s oil, the Houthi-led government has slipped into a financial crisis after four months of conflict with a Saudi-led military coalition.

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.

Al-Anad lies on road to Taiz, the next target for the coalition after their recapture of Aden.

Hadi’s government announced the liberation of Aden in mid-July after loyalist forces freshly trained and equipped in Saudi Arabia helped drive out the rebels and their allies.

While the Popular Resistance fighters are against the Houthis, many of them are southern secessionists who do not back exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi politically.

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

The United Nations says the war has killed almost 4,000 people, half of them civilians, while 80 percent of the 21-million population needs aid and protection.

The assault on al-Anad began after new weapons, including armored vehicles that had been supplied by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, arrived to reinforce fighters who had been besieging the base for weeks.

Nearly 10,000 Yemenis – many of them wounded – have arrived in the small state since late March, according to the UN refugee agency.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reported citing a source that the Pro-Hadi forces’ efforts to break into the base from the south failed and they faced strong resistance from the rebels.

Saudi Arabia, which shares a long southern border with Yemen, responded by assembling the coalition and beginning a campaign of airstrikes that sought to oust the Houthis and restore Mr. Hadi to power.

In Sanaa, the leader of the Iran-backed rebels said a political settlement with the exiled government was still possible after what he called the “short-term” setback of their ouster from Aden.