Hezbollah operative killed in central Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AA) – The Yemeni government said on Thursday that a senior operative from the Lebanese Hezbollah group was killed in clashes in central Marib province of Yemen.

The Hezbollah senior operative, identified as Akram al-Sayyed, was killed in artillery fire by the Yemeni army near the Um Reesh front in Marib province, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al Eryani told the country's official SABA news agency.

He added that al-Sayyed entered Yemen with a group of other Hezbollah's men in August 2017 and took command of the Houthis fighting in the southern areas of Marib.

There were no comments from both the Houthi group and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni Observatory for Mines, a Yemeni rights organization, reported that two Yemeni civilians were killed when a landmine laid by the Houthis exploded in Taiz province, southwest Yemen.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with nearly 80% or about 30 million needing humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

A recent UN report projected that by the year’s end, the death toll from the seven-year Yemeni conflict will reach 377,000.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara