Daijiworld Media Network - Aden
Aden (Yemen), Sep 14: More than 500 soldiers of Yemen’s government forces were killed and around 1,500 wounded in a month of fighting with the Houthis along the country’s western coast, according to a statement issued by the government forces on Sunday.
The government’s National Resistance Forces, in a statement carried by Al-Joumhouriya TV, said the casualties were recorded between August 9 and September 10. It also claimed that more than 1,000 Houthi members were killed and thousands more wounded. The figures could not be independently verified.
According to the statement, the fighting began with Houthi missile, drone and explosive-boat attacks before spreading from Hays in the southern part of the Red Sea province of Hodeidah to several fronts in neighbouring southwestern Taiz province, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The casualties were reported amid a major Houthi offensive launched on September 3, which rapidly altered the front lines along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The Houthis captured several areas previously held by government forces in Hodeidah and neighbouring Taiz provinces.
The Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday and advanced south on Friday into the Bab al-Mandab area, seizing Mayun Island at the heart of the strait.
The developments have tightened the Houthis’ control over the vital shipping chokepoint linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Houthi forces subsequently advanced farther south towards neighbouring Lahj province, where retreating government forces had regrouped. The fighting has consequently moved closer to Aden, the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
Meanwhile, the Houthis have freed 210 of their members who were being held by government forces after seizing a prison during their rapid advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, a Houthi military official told Xinhua on Sunday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Houthi forces stormed a government-run prison after capturing the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha in southwestern Taiz province on Thursday.
The official alleged that before retreating, government forces had gathered all 210 prisoners in a large hall and locked them inside.
“Our fighters broke into the facility and freed them,” the official said.