Southern Resistance fighters stand with a tank destroyed during fighting against Houthi fighters in the Emran outskirts of Yemen's southern port city of Aden July 13, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)
Fighters from the Yemeni Popular Resistance – a militia that has been a mainstay of support for exiled President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi – have re-seized control of the southern coastal city of Aden, marking a significant turn of events in the four-month conflict.
Houthi militias, backed by forces loyal to former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, have been struggling for control against pro-Hadi loyalist forces since Hadi was forced to flee in March.
A Saudi-led military coalition, which includes Egypt and other Arab states, was launched in the same month to halt the advancement of the Iranian-backed Houthis and their allies in Yemen and to restore Hadi.
This week the Popular Resistance fighters were able to advance and recapture certain strategic locations in Aden such as the airport, the provincial government headquarters in the Al-Mualla district by Aden's main commercial port, the Crater district of the city, and Khormaksar diplomatic district.
The offensives resulted in great losses on the part of the Houthis with the death of many Houthi leaders and dozens of militants.
According to the official Saudi spokesperson Ahmed Asiri and other Yemeni military sources, the coalition launched air and naval reinforcement offensives, dubbed Operation Golden Arrow, to support the Popular Resistance fighters. The operation was under the supervision of President Hadi, they said.
They launched 200 strikes and reinforced maritime defences along the coast of the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab in the southern Red Sea.
Abdel Hakeem Al-Mayouni, a media and political activist from the Al-Mualla area in the centre of Aden, told Ahram Online by phone that stability has been restored in the centre and around the city with the spread of the news of the victory of the pro-Hadi forces.
Some Yemeni local news outlets reported that the areas freed from Houthi control are estimated at 80 percent of Aden. Reports also indicate that there are attempts to hold a temporary truce to allow the Houthis to exit the outskirts of the city.
Al-Mayouni attributes the transformation witnessed in the conflict to the heavy military equipment delivered from Gulf states, particularly the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and the training the fighters received.
Al-Mayouni added that there are reports of at least 150 new armoured personnel carriers being used by the pro-Hadi forces in the ongoing battles.
Meanwhile, other reports indicate that the Popular Resistance coordinated these offensives with the operation room in Saudi Arabia.
Sources in Aden told Ahram Online that the airport and the main port were being restored to loyalist control. The sources confirmed that at least three Yemeni ministers -- the ministers of health, interior and transportation -- have returned to Aden with security and intelligence teams from Saudi Arabia, and resumed their work upon arrival.
In an interview with Ahram Online, Ahmed Mohamed Al-Haiqani, a close ally of the Yemeni government and head of the Refusal movement, said that during the past three months during which the south was dominated by the Houthi rebels, the Popular Resistance fighters were trained in Hadr Mawt area in Yemen and not abroad. He also said that there were naval and air reinforcements to help the fighters regain control.
The Refusal movement is a pro-Hadi movement launched in October 2014 to fight the Houthi rebels.
"The Popular Resistance movement only needed to organise themselves, which was what happened, and thus these advances are a normal outcome. It is expected that, after these advances, the loyalist forces will liberate other locations in Taiz, and Lahj [cities in southern Yemen]," he asserted.
Al-Haiqani said that the upcoming weeks will witness an increased presence of the "legitimate" Yemeni government, paving the way for its full return.
Speaking about the possibility of new initiatives of talks with the Houthis and Saleh in Geneva, Al-Haiqani said: "We signed around 68 agreements with the Houthis and they did not commit to any; therefore there shall be no more talks with such rebels as they are nothing more than putchist gangs."
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