Houthis kill 14 Yemen government troops in deadliest attack in years

Aden: Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed 14 troops in an attack south of the port city of Hodeidah, two military officials aligned with the country's internationally-recognised government told AFP on Sunday.

An officer with pro-government forces in the Jabal Dubas in Hays district, where the clashes took place, confirmed 14 troops were killed and 23 injured in "fierce fighting".

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The officer said the Houthis briefly took control of pro-government positions in the clashes, which began late on Friday, before a counterattack to retake them concluded at dawn on Saturday.

"This was the deadliest Houthi attack in years," the officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

He described how the Iran-backed rebels had attacked with snipers, which accounted for most of the casualties, before launching drone and mortar salvos.

Earlier a military official also said 14 troops had been killed and pro-government forces had repelled the Houthi attack in Hays district in "clashes lasting for several hours".

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He added "fighting resulted in dead and wounded among (Houthi) ranks," without specifying the number killed in the opposing force.

The Houthis have been at war with the government since 2015 in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered a major humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

The rebels control Yemen's capital Sanaa and much of the north, including Hodeidah on Yemen's western Red Sea coast, while the internationally-recognised government holds much of the south.

The fighting between the two sides has largely been frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022.

But on Friday the Houthis threatened airports and vital assets belonging to Saudi Arabia, a key backer of Yemen's Aden-based government.

The rebel group, part of Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel and the United States, accused the kingdom of trying to stop an Iranian plane from landing.