Yemen rebels seize brigade HQ in third city Taez: army
Rebel forces seized a loyalist brigade headquarters in Yemen’s third city Taez on Wednesday hours after a Saudi-led coalition halted a four-week air campaign against them, an army officer said.
The headquarters of the 35th Armoured Brigade on the city’s northern outskirts fell after heavy fighting which left “dozens dead and wounded”, the officer told AFP from inside the captured base.
The brigade had remained loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and its troops had resisted a nearly week-long siege by the Huthi Shiite rebels and their allies with support from tribal militia and coalition air strikes.
But hours after the coalition halted the air campaign it launched on March 26 the rebels overran it.
Announcing the end of its air operation late Tuesday, the coalition warned that it stood ready to resume strikes if necessary to target any advances by the rebels.
A Yemen Red Crescent representative said its medical teams had been unable to access the area around the base “due to the intense fighting.”
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1 Comments
Some times I wonder what has gone wrong with the judgement of some people. What else could inform and justify the halting of airstrikes against the rebels by Saudi and its allies, in the face of advancing rebel fighters. What was the aim; to give the rebels opportunity to gain more grounds or to test the ability of the government side without the airstrikes? It should occur to the Saudis that no amount of airstrikes can stop the rebels as it is now. Only combined land and air effort can change the situation. The earlier the betters.
We will review and take appropriate action.