SANAA/ADEN — Yemeni forces backed up by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have recaptured positions on the outskirts of Aden used by the Houthi group to fire rockets into the southern port city, local officials said on Thursday. Forces loyal to exiled President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi, which retook Aden from the Iran-allied Houthis on July 17, seized the town of Muthalath Al-Ilm, at Aden's eastern entrance. The fighters, who call themselves the Southern Resistance forces, also recaptured neighborhoods to the north of Aden from the Houthis, including Ya'wala, Al-Basateen and Qariat Al-Falahi, the officials said. They said the two sides were still fighting in Al-Houta, the capital of the southern province of Lahj, 30 km from Aden, where clashes have persisted for several days. Saudi air raids also targeted locations across the south, including Dhalea and Aland airbase, Houthi media Saba News reported quoting a security source at Yemen's interior ministry. An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen since March in an effort to drive back the Houthis, who are aligned with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and fight alongside his forces. The four-month-old war is rooted in political strains that escalated last year when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and pushed out Hadi. A five-day truce put forward by the Saudi side to allow delivery of aid that began on Sunday ended almost immediately, with resistance fighters accusing the Houthis flouting the deal. People in Yemen are on the verge of starvation, Oxfam said on Tuesday. Also on Thursday, residents and local officials said four suspected members of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar Al-Sharia militant group were killed in an overnight airstrike by an unmanned aircraft, or drone, in the southern province of Abyan. — Reuters
