...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...have launched a "vast offensive" to capture the strategic port city of Hodeidah from 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, according to the country's internationally recognised government.
"A military operation has begun and the national army forces have advanced towards the north and the western sides of the city of Hodeidah, progressing from all front with the support of the Arab coalition," the Aden-based government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said in a statement on Friday.
"Fierce battles are taking place at these moments," it added.
Friday's statement came after several days of fighting as pro-government forces closed in on Houthi positions in the city centre.
At least 110 rebels and 22 pro-government troops were killed during battles in the past 24 hours, local medical sources told the AFP news agency on Friday.
The latest fatalities took the total number of fighters from both sides killed since November 1, when the battle for Hodeidah intensified, to 382.
There was no immediate comment on the government's statement from the rebels, who have been controlling Hodeidah since 2014, the same year they also seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa.