Arab Coalition intensifies raids on Yemen’s Medi and Herd

The Yemeni National Army announced on Sunday the death of a Houthi commander in the Taiz province south of Sana’a. The 35th Armored Battalion tweeted that “Houthi commander Major Hamid al-Mudai was shot dead by the 35 Armored Battalion in the Salu district southeast of Taiz.”

Arab coalition fighters targeted military reinforcements belonging to the Houthi militia on their way to the coastal front, while 18 Houthi and Saleh militants were killed and eight wounded in a raid by the Arab coalition fighters in al-Hamili front, west Taiz Governorate, according to a military source.

Two members of the militia were killed and others were injured in an attack by the National Army on coupist sites south of Taiz. Meanwhile, a field commander in the ranks of Houthi-Saleh militia was killed on Saturday in an ambush carried out by the Popular Resistance fighters in al-Soma’ah district of al-Bayda province.

The Resistance confirmed that militia supervisor, Abu Abed, was killed in the attack in al-Hazimieh. Abu Abed was appointed by militia rebels instead of Abu Serag, the previous supervisor, who was killed too in the same district. In addition, the Yemeni army announced Sunday that it has achieved significant progress in its battles against Houthi and Saleh militias in Khabb and al-Sha’af district north of the Yemeni province of al-Jawf.

Following the ongoing clashes since last Friday, Commander of the Sixth Military Region Colonel Mohammed Saleh Rasia said that the army forces of the First Brigade border guards were able to clear the camp of Ghreemil and areas of Ajashr and Ramle north of the directorate.

In the same context, Yemen's Huthi rebels, who are locked in a deadly war with the Saudi-supported government, on Sunday said they had downed a drone on the northern outskirts of the country's capital.

The Huthi-run Al-Masirah television channel said the Shiite rebel camp's anti-aircraft defence had brought down a Saudi-operated MQ-9 Reaper, an unmanned aerial vehicle which is produced by the United States. No casualties were reported. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the United States had yet responded to the report.

An AFP photographer at the scene said dozens of residents rushed to examine the debris from a burning aircraft at the northern entrance to the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Huthis and their ally former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen's years-long war has produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with poverty and port blockades compounding the deadly violence between the Saudi-backed government and an alliance joining the Huthis and Saleh.

For decades sworn enemies of Saleh, who ruled Yemen from its unification in 1990 until 2012, the Huthis joined ranks with the strongman in 2014 and forced out the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, Saleh's successor.

Saudi Arabia and its allies in an Arab military coalition joined the war the following year in a bid to curb the reach of the Saleh-Huthi alliance. More than 8,500 people have since been killed and nearly 49,000 wounded in the conflict, according to the World Health Organization. The MQ-9 Reaper, with a 20-metre wingspan and a maximum payload of more than 1,800 kilograms, can carry a range of weapons including missiles and laser-guided bombs.