Yemen’s national army and the pro-government Popular Resistance Committees have liberated on Saturday Al-Gail village in the northern governorate of Al-Jawf, the last key stronghold for the Iran-backed Houthi militias and their allied forces loyal to the deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni official news agency quoted a military source as saying.
“The national army and resistance fighters, backed by the [Saudi-led] Arab Coalition’s jet fighters, launched an offensive on Saturday morning on the sites of the Houthi militia in Al-Gail, in which they liberated the village,” the military source said.
He added that scores of Houthi militias were killed and wounded, while dozens escaped the battlefield.
Citing military sources, Agence France-Presse said the clashes which saw the pro-government forces recapturing large parts of Ghail killed 11 militias and five government loyalists.
Jawf is on the border with Saudi Arabia and is mostly controlled by loyalist forces.
In the Bab al-Mandab region itself, fighting on Saturday killed three loyalists and wounded 17, other military sources said.
The clashes took place in the mountainous Kahbub area overlooking the strait. Five rebels were also killed, the loyalist military sources said.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition have dubbed attack by the Houthis on a UAE ship carrying aid Saturday in the Bab al-Mandab strait as a “dangerous indication.” The coalition said civilians onboard the ship were rescued.
Loyalist forces recaptured Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait in October last year, gaining a foothold on the strategic shipping lane which connects the Suez Canal and Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
But the militias still control some of the heights which overlook the strait from the mainland, where there has been fierce fighting in recent days.
Military sources in Yemen told AFP that the militias shelled a loyalist military camp in the Bab al-Mandab area on Saturday.
 

Source: Al Arabiya, 1 October 2016