Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi called on the army and security forces in the province of Hadramout to improve their military presence and strike with an iron fist anyone who tries to upset calm.
In a telephone conversation conducted with Brigadier General Farag Salem al-Bahsani, commander of the Mukalla-based 2nd Military District, Hadi said the Yemeni army must continue to advance in the country and defeat insurgents.
For his part, Bahsani informed the Yemeni president about the latest field developments and the trainings of military staff in the region, the official Yemeni news agency reported on Sunday. Hadi also praised the Saudi efforts in supporting legitimacy in Yemen, in a speech addressed to the Yemeni people on the occasion of the holy Eid al-Fitr.
He also congratulated the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on the occasion. “Yemen stands on the verge of important victories embodied in the will of the Yemeni people and their determination to defend their land and honor,” the Yemeni president said.
Meanwhile, a military official said that Houthi militias pounded on Sunday residential areas in the province of Taiz on the first day of the Eid. “Rebels shelled army positions and residential areas directly after dawn prayers and then escalated their attack between the Eid and noon prayers,” Colonel Abdul Baset al-Bahar, deputy spokesperson for the Taiz front, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Al-Bahar said the shells drove fear among children and women and had left evident material damage.
The colonel added that rebel militias were not targeting specific locations in Taiz, but were now dropping their shells in the entire city, targeting women, children and the elderly.
Also, on Sunday, the Arab Coalition Forces were capable to carry out a qualitative intelligence operation, targeting a meeting headquarters of prominent Houthi leaders in Marib.
According to Al-Arabiya news channel, local sources said the meeting included a large number of prominent leaders of the militias, including Mubarak al-Mashn, a Houthi leader and a member of the so-called Political Council of the coup, and Nasser al-Zabli, one of the prominent leaders.
On the military side, the Arab Coalition Forces, on Sunday, managed to carry out a qualitative intelligence operation, targeting the meeting headquarters of prominent Houthi leaders in Marib on Sunday.
According to local sources, the meeting included a large number of prominent leaders of the militias, including Mubarak al-Mashn, a Houthi leader and a member of the so-called Political Council of the coup, he was responsible for the Srwah front, and Nasser al-Zabli, one of the prominent leaders.
Military sources said on Saturday, the National Army, backed by coalition forces, controlled vast areas of the front in Marib under heavy cover from air and artillery fire.
A military source said that the legitimate forces supported by the Arab coalition forces managed to control sites of strategic importance, most notably al-Mkhdra area and mountains overlooking the market of Srwah from the north-west.
The Houthi and the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh suffered heavy losses in lives and equipment amid the escape of the remaining elements of the militias as a result of fierce fighting on this front, according to the source. The source added “the legitimate forces continued to advance in a number of axes, especially the Helan and al-Mashgah and controlled the black hill, the red hill and al-Mkhdra axis to 11 kilometers deep.”