Ansarullah fighters gain ground in southwest Yemen

Houthi movement’s Ansarullah fighters in Yemen have succeeded in taking control of a district in the southwestern province of Ibb from al-Qaeda-linked militants.

The Houthi fighters captured full control of the Hazm al-Udayn district on Monday after two weeks of intense fighting with the terrorists.

They also seized a training camp belonging to the militants in the area.

Meanwhile, reports said that a commander of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group in the region surrendered to Ansarullah fighters.

Earlier in the day, a local resident, identified as Fahd al-Tawil, said that Ansarullah fighters launched an offensive to push into an al-Qaeda stronghold outside the town of Rada’, situated some 176 kilometers southeast of the capital Sana’a.

Both sides engaged in a fierce exchange of fire, during which sixteen Ansarullah members and four militants were killed.

The development came two days after Houthi fighters flushed out militants from the town of Khokha in the strategic western province of Hudaydah.

The leader of the Ansarullah movement recently accused the government in Sana’a of failing to meet its responsibilities to provide security as threats from Takfiri terrorists grow.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said last Tuesday that the militants are spreading across the country while the security apparatus and the government fail to confront them.

Al-Qaeda militants frequently carry out attacks on Yemen’s security forces and have been locked in deadly battles with Ansarullah fighters over the past months.

The Ansarullah revolutionaries have driven al-Qaeda militants out of many areas in the country. They also played a major role in the ouster of Yemen’s former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.