Yemeni nationalists advance in Al Jawf towards Sanaa

Yemen’s national army and resistance fighters killed scores of Iranian-backed coup militias in heavy fighting on Thursday as they advanced on rebel positions in the Northern Al Jawf governorate to open the way towards the capital Sanaa.

The nationalists, backed by coalition air raids, launched a two-pronged offensive on Wednesday to capture Al Labnat military camp, the main stronghold of Houthis and their allies in Al Jawf, news reports from Yemen said.

Capturing of the camp will open the way for the army and resistance to attack Al Jawf capital, Al Hazm, and expel the rebel remnants from the entire province.

“Scores of rebels were killed or wound in the battles to seize Al Labnat…two rebel field commanders, Abu Al Hassan Mathar and Abu Mansour Al Fakhri, were also killed…a large number of the rebels were also captured,” a resistance source said, quoted by the UAE Arabic language daily Emarat Alyoum.

The source said the coalition warplanes and Apache helicopters supported the resistance with heavy raids on the military camp, which is the main gate to Al Hazm.

“The target is to seize Al Hazm, the capital of Al Jawf…we then will begin pushing our way towards Sanaa to liberate it from the coup insurgents,” the source added.

In the Southwestern governorate of Taiz, heavy fighting continued between the resistance and the Houthis while several rebel targets were hit by coalition jets.

Military sources said the national army and resistance continued to send reinforcements to some areas in the province after the insurgents bolstered their positions.

In a related development, a Sudanese soldier was killed during the battles in Taiz, becoming the first fighter from that Arab country to fall as a martyr in Yemen since Sudan decided to participate in a Saudi-dominated Arab coalition to quell the Iranian-backed coup and restore the legitimate government.

According to resistance spokesman in Al Ind front in Taiz Fahd Qayed, one Sudanese soldier and five resistance fighters were martyred in that area. “At least 20 coup militias were killed in the fighting while more rebels were killed in other Taiz areas,” he said.

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