ADEN, Yemen, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni government forces succeeded in retaking control of a district from the Shiite Houthi rebels, after fierce armed confrontations and airstrikes in the southwestern province of Taiz on Saturday, an army commander told Xinhua.
"The Houthi militants have been defeated in Alwazy'ah district after units of the national army and allied tribal fighters launched overnight offensive and backed by intensified Saudi-led airstrikes," the local army commander said on condition of anonymity.
The source said that the government forces supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out a well-planned assault, forcing the Houthi militants to run away which resulted in full recapture of Alwazy'ah district Saturday morning.
The state-run UAE news agency WAM reported that the Yemeni National Forces have liberated the entire Alwazy'ah front, expunging the Iran-backed Houthi militia out of their pockets in the area.
The Emirati agency said that the liberation came as part of a large-scale campaign that was supported by the UAE Armed Forces and inflicted heavy human and material damage on the rebels.
Meanwhile, the UAE-backed Yemeni forces continued in making ground progress in the fighting in western coast of Hodeidah province and liberated several areas from the Houthi rebels.
A military official told Xinhua that "the government forces will continue in its advance and a large-scale military operation might be declared to liberate the port city of Hodeidah soon."
Scores of fighters were either killed or injured near Hodeidah, according to medical sources.
Military observers said that the Houthi rebels are losing their grip on the western provinces and their territory is shrinking in a daily basis.
The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.
Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Iran-backed Houthi rebels forced him into exile.
The United Nations has listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera causing more than 2,000 deaths.
