The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have intensified their efforts to booby-trap houses in the Hodeidah province, military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The militants have resorted to such criminal acts to prevent residents from fleeing and consequently impede the national army’s advance to completely liberate the West coast, they explained.
In Hodeidah’s al-Durayhimi region, the Houthis cut off water supplies from the area’s main reservoir, exacerbating the difficult conditions the civilians were already enduring, revealed official spokesman of the Yemeni army Abdo Majali.
He confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis had also booby-trapped homes in the area to bar the people from heading to regions under the control of the army.
He voiced concerns that the militants may commit massacres against the civilians in Durayhimi by blowing up the houses should they refuse to remain inside.
Furthermore, he said the militias have been using civilians as human shields to hinder the legitimate forces’ advance, adding that they have also been kidnapping people, who have shown resistance to their coup. Such incidents have been reported in Hodeidah’s al-Munirah district.
Majali stressed that the army has set strategic and vital targets in order to impose its complete control over all Yemeni cities to protect the civilians from the militias.
On the ground, Saudi-led Arab coalition jets continued to pound Houthi positions in Hodeidah.
A military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that a coalition warship struck under-construction buildings near Hodeidah’s historic coastal fortress. The Houthis had converted the buildings into a military barracks for their operations.
The coalition had also carried out strikes on militia positions in al-Dahi in northern Hodeidah.
In the Saada province, the national army continued its advance, seizing several arms caches in the Baqim district. It also cut off supply routes between Saada and the Hajjah provinces.
Sources said that the army succeeded in liberating the mountain ranges surrounded Baqim, leaving the militants surrounded on all sides.
In al-Jawf region, the army continued to impose its control over strategic locations through the support of coalition air strikes. It also liberated several areas in the al-Masloub region from Houthi clutches.
The army said that the militias were now living in fear and many of its members are fleeing the battleground. Some 60 militants were arrested recently and some 100 had surrendered to the army after they realized that the battle was lost.
