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Yemen fight for Red Sea base leaves 25 dead
 [EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] At least 25 soldiers and rebels have died in festivities around a key military base near Yemen's west coast, military and medical sources said Saturday.Loyalist forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition launched an assault to seize the Khaled Ibn al-Walid base from Shiite Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... rebels and their allies who had controlled it for over two years, military sources said. After seizing a mountain overlooking the camp in recent days, forces loyal to internationally recognized president Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi had advanced on the camp from two directions, they said. The camp, one of the biggest in Yemen, is 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the government-held Red Sea town of Mokha which pro-government forces retook in February. It sits on a key road linking Mokha to the Houthi-controlled port city of Hudaida and third city Taez, which is under rebel siege. Nine rebels were killed and two others maimed in twin coalition air strikes targeting three vehicles bringing reinforcements to the camp, military and medical sources said. They added that a further 12 rebels and four soldiers were killed in fighting overnight. Loyalist forces launched a major offensive on Jan. 7 to retake Yemen's 450-kilometer (280-mile) coastline as far as Midi, close to the Saudi border. The Houthis, supported by troops loyal to former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , control parts of northern and western Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... and the capital Sanaa, which they overran in September 2014. Posted by: Fred 2017-04-16 |
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