Houthi militants bombarded residential areas in Yemen

A Yemeni army officer and nine Houthi fighters were killed Thursday in clashes that erupted in the town of Asilan in Yemen’s southeastern Shabwah province, according to a Yemeni military source. “Houthi militiamen launched a major attack at dawn Thursday on Yemeni army positions in Asilan, prompting fierce clashes,” a Yemeni army colonel told Anadolu Agency.

“Government forces and members of the [pro-government] popular resistance committees ultimately managed to repulse the attackers,” he said, preferring anonymity for security reasons. The attack, he added, had left one army officer dead -- Colonel Al-Khader al-Jadani -- and two “popular resistance” volunteers injured.

According to the same source, at least nine Houthi fighters were killed in the fighting. Spokesmen for the Houthis have yet to comment on the source’s assertions. Yemen’s Shabwah province is comprised of 17 districts, 15 of which are currently held by government forces while much of the province’s Bihan directorate and parts of Asilan remain under the control of the Houthis and their allies.

Yemen has remained locked in a civil war since 2014, when the Shia Houthi militia group overran much of the country including capital Sanaa, forcing Yemen’s Saudi-backed government to set up an interim capital in the coastal city of Aden. In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi military gains in Yemen.

According to UN figures, more than 10,000 people -- including numerous civilians -- have been killed as a direct result of the conflict. The Arab coalition announced on Friday that it had destroyed a Houthi missile launch site in Hudaydah that is used to target Saudi Arabia. A coalition unmanned aircraft documented earlier this month targeted locations of Houthi and Saleh militias in different areas near the Saudi-Yemeni border.

Coalition aircraft managed to destroy military vehicles carrying militants towards the Saudi border in an attempt to plant mines and advance towards the border. Arab coalition fighters also targeted military reinforcements of Houthi militias and destroyed a weapons storehouse and sites for their gatherings in the Bihan district, west of Shabbwa province.

The Yemeni army backed by the Saudi-led coalition have dealt a strong blow to Houthi militias and pro-Saleh troops stationed in the southern parts of the country in skirmishes over the weekend. A Yemeni military source said the Saudi-supported Yemeni army’s advance set back the rebels and sent the remaining militias fleeing from the battlefield.

The source told Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that the Yemeni army also foiled a surprise attack launched by Houthi militias in Al Joaf province in an attempt to weaken the grip of the army in Khabb and Shaaf directorate in the northern parts of the province.  SPA quoted a military source saying the militias were forced to retreat.

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the humanitarian situation in Yemen is a "catastrophe" and cholera cases there could reach a million by the end of the year. Alexandre Faith, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen, said the warring sides were using disproportionate force, causing "very excessive" civilian casualties. He called on them to allow Sanaa airport to open to commercial flights for aid supplies.

Speaking in Geneva, Mr Faite said there had been 750,000 suspected cases of cholera to date, with 2,119 deaths. "We could be to one million (cases) by the end of the year," he added. In his speech before the Human Rights Council, Fahd bin Obaidullah Al Mutairi, Head of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Department at the Saudi delegation to the United Nations, expressed his deep regret over the suffering and loss of innocent lives suffered by the Yemeni people.