ADEN — Yemeni security forces in Taiz, which had allied themselves with the Houthi militia and supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, rebelled against orders of marching to Aden, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Sunday citing local sources. Members of Taiz's military police refused to head to Aden, where the country's legitimate government has been holding court since the Houthi takeover of Sanaa earlier this year. Separately, local sources said around 300 Houthi militants — supported by army forces and tanks — stormed the Al-Jalila area in the Al-Dalea governorate south of Yemen. The Houthis were met by local armed groups in clashes that left a number of people wounded, Al Arabiya reported citing eyewitness accounts. The militia also managed to take control of military camps from local armed groups. Sources said scores fled their homes in Al-Dalea, as clashes continued in the Al-Jalila area between locals and Houthis which left an unidentified number of casualties. Al Arabiya reported that antiaircraft weapons were fired at Arab coalition warplanes as they flew over the Al-Jalila. Arab coalition airstrikes targeted Shabwa province in southern Yemen on Sunday, where clashes between Houthi militias and armed tribes took place. The strikes, part of a Saudi-led air campaign dubbed “Operation Decisive Storm,” hit the Beihan area in the Shabwa governorate. Airstrikes also struck military targets and weapons depots controlled by Houthi rebels in the Yemeni city of Saada on Sunday, where members of the militia released 1,800 convicted criminals and took control of the Kahlan military camp, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. In the hours before the anti-Houthi coalition struck the Kahlan camp, the militia appointed one of its own as head of the camp who was tasked with transferring the weapons outside the facility. — SG
