Nearly two dozen people have been killed in overnight clashes between fighters from the Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement and militiamen loyal to resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the country’s strategic western province of Hudaydah, military and medical officials say.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that skirmishes in the Red Sea port cities of Midi and Mukha have claimed the lives of 14 Ansarullah fighters.
Pro-Hadi militia forces, backed by the Saudi air force, began a major offensive on January 7 to recapture Mukha, which overlooks the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, from Ansarullah fighters. Tens of people from both sides have been killed so far in the ongoing clashes.
Yemeni snipers shoot dead Saudi trooper
Meanwhile, Yemeni soldiers, backed by fighters from Popular Committees, have shot dead a Saudi trooper in the kingdom’s southwestern border region of Jizan as the Riyadh regime pushes ahead with its aerial bombardment campaign against its crisis-hit southern neighbor.
Yemeni forces shot and killed the Saudi trooper in Soudah military base of al-Khoubah district on Monday afternoon, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.
Yemeni soldiers and their allies also fired a locally-developed al-Sarkha 3 (Shriek 3) missile at a gathering of Saudi troops in the Eastern Umm al-Qotb district of Jizan, located 969 kilometers south of Riyadh, but there were no immediate reports of possible casualties or damage.
Later, Yemeni forces and their allies targeted an Emirati armored vehicle in an area of the city of Sirwah, which lies about 120 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a, killing all those onboard.
Also on Monday, Saudi military aircraft launched an airstrike against an area in the Baqim district of the northwestern Yemeni province of Sa’ada, leaving three civilians dead and four others injured.
Separately, a civilian lost his life and two others sustained injuries when Saudi fighter jets pounded al-Mina district.
According to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, the Yemeni conflict has claimed the lives of 10,000 people and left 40,000 others wounded.
McGoldrick told reporters in Sana’a on January 16 that the figure is based on lists of victims gathered by health facilities and that the actual number might be higher.
Local sources, however, say the Saudi war, which was launched in March 2015 in an attempt to bring back the country's former government to power, has so far claimed the lives of at least 11,400 Yemenis.
The Saudi military aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
