ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Forces loyal to Yemeni internationally-recognized government launched a new military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah on Sunday to seize control over key areas.
Media center of Yemen's Defence Ministry reported that government troops had managed to recapture the Ahem Triangle and other surrounding villages following the large military operation.
It said that the Saudi Arabia-led coalition backed the ground forces by launching a series of airstrikes on Houthi gatherings and reinforcements, resulting in the destruction of a military truck carrying a number of fighters.
A local source confirmed to Xinhua that Mohamed Kholany, a prominent commander of the Fifth Regional Military Command, was seriously injured during a gunfire exchange with Houthis in Haradh district of Hajjah province.
An unknown number of people were killed and many others were injured during the armed confrontations, according to the local source.
Despite the repeated calls by western countries for cease-fire in Yemen, there have been multiple pro-government fronts advancing militarily towards Houthi's main strongholds in northern provinces amid ferocious fighting.
Elsewhere in the war-torn Arab country, fighting temporarily paused between the two warring parts in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah despite sporadic mortar attacks that destroyed a number of factories.
The Houthis launched a large military campaign and seized the capital Sanaa in late 2014, forcing Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a pan-Arab coalition to intervene militarily and began to pound the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, in response to an official public request from Hadi.
The internal military conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government recently entered its fourth year, aggravating the suffering of Yemenis and deepening the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The ongoing fighting between the two sides with daily Saudi-led airstrikes plunged the most impoverished Arab country in the Middle East into more chaos and violence.
Three quarters of the population, or more than 22 million people, desperately require humanitarian help, including 8.4 million people who struggle to find their next meal.
