(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Fighters loyal to Yemen's exiled president Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, bolstered by Gulf Arab support, seized the country's largest military base from Houthi forces yesterday after heavy combat in which dozens were killed or captured, a pro-Hadi commander said.
If confirmed, the victory would mark another significant gain for the Hadi loyalists after they drove the Houthis from the southern port of Aden in July following months on the defensive. The recapture of the Al Anad base also opens up the road north to the city of Taiz, where Iranian-allied Houthi militias have been locked in combat with Hadi fighters.
"The national army and the popular resistance have completed control of the Al Anad military and air base," the operation commander, Brigadier-General Fadel Hassan, told Reuters.
His forces were combing the base, which covers 40 square km for any Houthis who may have remained behind. He said his force would march on to complete the "liberation" of the provinces of Lahej and Abyan.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said earlier that Saudi-led air raids had repeatedly struck the military base. The base has been under siege for weeks by the Southern Resistance, an alliance of southern groups including secessionists seeking an independent south Yemen.
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