Saudi-led coalition strikes SW Yemen; 9 Houthis killed

By Murad al-Arifi

TAIZ, Yemen (AA) - At least nine Houthi militiamen were killed in airstrikes carried out late Wednesday by a Saudi-led air coalition in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province, according to a Yemeni military source.

“At least 20 airstrikes targeted positions held by the Houthis and their allies in the Al-Waziyya and Mawza districts of western Taiz,” the source, speaking anonymously as he was not authorized to speak to media, told Anadolu Agency.

“Nine Houthi militants and allied fighters were killed -- and at least 14 more injured -- in the air attack,” the source said.

The Houthis and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have yet to comment on the reported attack.

In a related development the same day, a medical source, also speaking anonymously, told Anadolu Agency that at least one civilian in Taiz’s northern Safa district had been killed by a Houthi artillery barrage.

Yemen has remained in a state of chaos since 2014, when the Houthis and pro-Salah forces overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing members of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In March of 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and restoring the country’s internationally-recognized government.

Last year, Yemen’s government and the Houthi rebels entered into UN-backed peace talks in Kuwait in an effort to resolve the conflict, in which more than 10,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures.

The peace talks, however, failed to yield and tangible breakthroughs.