Advancing loyalist forces recaptured Yemen's biggest airbase from Iran-backed rebels on Tuesday after a 24-hour assault using heavy armour supplied by a Saudi-led coalition, the defence ministry said.

A ministry statement hailed the victory and pledged that loyalist forces would press their fightback against the rebels and their allies until the authority of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi was restored over all of Yemen.

The Al-Anad base, north of second city Aden, housed US troops overseeing a drone war against Al-Qaeda in Yemen until shortly before the Shiite Huthi rebels overran it in March.