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News > World

Yemen's Houthis Seize Strategic Northern City: Officials

  • The Houthis recently used air defenses to hit down a coalition warplane in the oil-rich province of Jawf.

    The Houthis recently used air defenses to hit down a coalition warplane in the oil-rich province of Jawf. | Photo: EFE

Published 1 March 2020
Opinion

The operation is a significant blow to the United Nations recognized government and the Saudi-led coalition that supports it.

Yemeni fighters of the Houthi rebel group captured Sunday the strategic northern city of al-Hazm, capital of al-Jawf province, according to officials. 

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The capture, which followed weeks of fighting between the Houthis and forces loyal to the United Nations (U.N.) recognized government, constitutes a major blow to the latter and the Saudi-led coalition that supports it.

"The government forces failed to repulse scores of Houthi fighters who managed to storm al-Hazm city from the western and northwestern sides," a local pro-government official told Xinhua. 

"The Houthis were deployed in different parts of the city and took their positions inside the government institutions including the local authority compound," he added, confirming pro-government forces withdrew from the city and headed toward the nearby Marib province.

The Houthis recently used air defenses to hit down a coalition warplane in the oil-rich province of Jawf, raising alarm among the Saudi-led alliance that the rebels are acquiring advanced weaponry.

The U.N. special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths had condemned Friday "the recent military escalation" in Jawf.

"Those who seek to gain from this escalation in Jawf are seriously undermining the prospects of peace that the people of Yemen so urgently deserve," Griffiths said.

He warned the warring sides that there was no alternative to a negotiated political solution to the conflict in Yemen.

The seemingly endless Yemeni civil war started on March 26, 2015, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led a coalition in a military campaign against the Houthis, to restore the Saudi-backed government of ousted Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi. 

The conflict has killed more than 100,000 people, as well as an estimated 85,000 people who died as a result of famine. The UN said the country is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

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