AL-MUKALLA, Yemen: A Yemeni government military commander was killed and another injured in separate clashes with Houthi forces over the weekend.
Col. Shadi Al-Mejzi, commander of Brigade 63’s First Battalion, was fatally wounded on Sunday morning during an assault by the Iran-backed militia in the Baqum district of Saada province, Saada Gov. Hadi Tarshan told Arab News.
Attacks in Saada’s disputed areas, including Rezah, Baqum, Ketaf, Al-Bouqa and Maran, had continued despite the UN-brokered truce as Houthi forces sought to drive government soldiers out of their heartland, he said.
“The Houthi militia breaches the truce on a near daily basis and sporadic clashes persist,” Tarshan said, adding that the Yemeni government and Arab coalition were committed to adhering to the ceasefire.
A second military commander was injured on Saturday night during a Houthi assault on government forces in the central province of Marib.
Brig. Gen. Akram Al-Ademi, commander of the 13th Infantry Brigade, was hurt during heavy fighting on Al-Belaq Al-Sharqi mountain, south of Marib city, a local military officer told Arab News.
Al-Ademi was taken to hospital in Marib after his soldiers had successfully pushed back the Houthis, the person said.
Al-Belaq Al-Sharqi is the closest active battlefield to the city of Marib, which was the target of a massive Houthi military attack that began in early 2021. Despite suspending their onslaught under the April 2 UN-brokered truce, the Houthis have continued to stage occasional advances into the city.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in Marib, which is home to more than 2 million displaced people, since the start of the Houthi offensive.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani has accused the Houthis of seizing property in the Aser and Al-Rawdha areas of Sanaa city, and the Hamadan and Bani Matar districts of Sanaa province.
He said the militia had dispatched personnel and military vehicles to seize vast tracts of land under the guise of being state or endowment lands, adding that the Houthis were attempting to effect a demographic shift by displacing locals and replacing them with their allies.
“We urge the international community, the UN and US envoys to denounce these criminal activities and exert pressure on the Houthi militia to immediately cease the systematic theft of lands and real estate in regions under its control,” he said.
According to a recent report by the UN Panel of Experts, the Houthis have made billions of Yemeni riyals by seizing and selling off property and land belonging to Yemenis in the western province of Hodeidah and elsewhere in the country. Hundreds of local people have lost their homes and livelihoods as a result.
