A Saudi soldier fires a mortar towards Houthi movement position, at the Saudi border with Yemen April 21, 2015 (Photo: Reuters)
Rebel forces seized a loyalist brigade headquarters in Yemen's third city Taez on Wednesday hours after a Saudi-led coalition halted a four-week air campaign against them, an army officer said.
The headquarters of the 35th Armoured Brigade on the city's northern outskirts fell after heavy fighting which left "dozens dead and wounded", the officer told AFP from inside the captured base.
The brigade had remained loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbou Mansour Hadi and its troops had resisted a nearly week-long siege by the Houthi Shia rebels and their allies with support from tribal militia and coalition air strikes.
But hours after the coalition halted the air campaign it launched on March 26 the rebels overran it.
Announcing the end of its air operation late Tuesday, the coalition warned that it stood ready to resume strikes if necessary to target any advances by the rebels.
A Yemen Red Crescent representative said its medical teams had been unable to access the area around the base "due to the intense fighting."
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