Saeed Al-Batati

AL-MUKALLA: At least 100 Houthis were killed in heavy fighting with government forces outside Yemen’s central city of Marib in the past day as the Iran-backed rebels pressed ahead with assaults to recapture the strategic city, local officials and media reports said on Monday.

Backed by massive air support from Arab coalition warplanes, Yemeni government troops and tribal fighters on Sunday mounted counterattacks on Houthi positions south of Marib in a bid to push back the militia from strategic locations outside the city and seize control of new areas. 

Fierce fighting raged between the two sides from Sunday to Monday near Al-Balaq Al-Sharqi mountain range and surrounding areas, claiming the lives of at least 100 Houthi fighters, including a field military leader.

“The national army seized control of three strategic hilly locations near Al-Balaq Al-Sharqi and cut off supply lines to pockets of Houthis,” a military official told Arab News by telephone, shortly after he returned from the raging battlefields in Marib.

“What I can say is that we managed to count the bodies of at least 100 Houthis killed during the last 24 hours.”

To pave the way for their forces to advance, the Houthis fired about 25 ballistic missiles at government-controlled areas and intensified drone and mortar attacks outside Marib.

“The Houthis hysterically shelled our forces with 25 ballistic missiles. The coalition’s warplanes intercepted and destroyed two of the missiles in the air,” the official said.

The shelling did not help the Houthis make new gains on the ground as government troops held strong in their positions and killed waves of Houthi fighters.