Yemen’s army expressed its confidence to liberate the Yemeni city controlled by the Houthi insurgents and other forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, saying that they managed to liberate large swaths of the Yemeni territories from the insurgents. Yemeni military Chief of Staff Mohamed Al Makdeshi stressed his confidence that his army is able to restore large number of areas during the coming period.

He added that his country gives priority to the establishment of a national army to protect the sovereignty of the county and to liberate what remains under the control of the Houthi militias. Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Maqdashi, Chief of Staff of the Yemeni armed forces, has said that his forces are waiting for a nod from the Yemeni prime minister to carry out new military campaigns in areas controlled by Houthi militias.

In an interview with pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Maqdashi said Yemeni armed forces had drawn up plans to free the remaining militia-controlled cities, including the city of al-Hudaydah. These plans depend on the vigilance of individuals, and the ability of military units to carry out combat actions during the next stage, he said. Maqdashi added that the rebels are going through a period of disintegration and weakness, and will not endure upcoming battles. “We have seen them flee their positions.”

Maqdashi said that the army is progressing significantly on all fronts, especially in Taiz and Nahm, imposing a siege on the militias in some areas, while progressing as well on the coastal strip. He also added that these moves will open the path in the event of a political decision to move quickly towards the city of Hudaydah as soon as possible. The Yemeni National Army and the resistance forces are fighting fierce battles in Taiz, during which they managed to retake the presidential palace and some important checkpoints that were under the control of the militias.

On the other hand, Yemeni government forces fought to capture a rebel-held presidential palace in the southwestern province of Taez on Saturday after clashes that killed 27 people, medics and military sources said. Most of Taez province is controlled by Shia Houthi rebels, who are battling forces allied with UN-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi holed up in the provincial capital of the same name.

Medics at the rebel-controlled Thamar Government Hospital in Taez, Yemen’s third city, said 19 Houthis had been killed in clashes over the past 24 hours. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported eight soldiers dead during the same period as the army closed in on the presidential palace.

The palace is under the control of the Iran-backed Houthis who are allied with former soldiers loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. A Saudi-led coalition has fought in Yemen for the past two years on the side of Hadi’s government.

A statement on Saudi Arabia’s official SPA news agency said pro-government Yemeni forces had captured the palace in Taez. But military sources on the ground denied this, telling AFP that while government forces were closing in on the palace, they had not yet seized it.

Yemen’s conflict has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded tens of thousands, according to the UN’s World Health Organization. More than 500 people have died of cholera and another 55,200 left ill in recent weeks in the second outbreak of the deadly infection in less than a year in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world. The UN has warned that 17 million people, or two-thirds of the population, face a serious threat of famine this year.