Al Mukalla: Government forces and resistance fighters in Yemen achieved another victory on Thursday in their war against Al Houthis and their allied forces of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh by retaking a new district on the Red Sea, forcing the Al Houthi militants to retreat to the city of Taiz, a senior security official in Aden told Gulf News.

“The national army and resistance have taken full control of Dhubab district in Taiz province.” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s internatinoally recognised government dismissed as a “manoeuvre” on Thursday Al Houthis’ acceptance of a UN-sponsored peace plan and demanded that the Iran-backed group hand back territory it has seized since last year.

Al Houthis said on Wednesday they had officially informed UN of their readiness to join talks to end the war.

Asked about the overture from the Al Houthi-Salah camp, however, President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s press secretary, Mukhtar Al Rahbi, said: “The government’s position is unchanged”.

“We consider this (Al Houthi acceptance) a manoeuvre, especially after the painful strikes they received,” he said, referring to the advances by the coalition east of the Yemeni capital Sana’a and the capture of the Bab Al Mandab strait in south-western Yemen.

Backed by the well-trained and heavily armed Gulf Arab forces including those of the UAE, government forces made a breakthrough on October 1 when they swiftly took control of the strategic Bab Al Mandab Strait and the remote Perim island. “Today’s victory would create a security fence that would protect Bab Al Mandab from Al Houthi incursions.” the official adds.

Rejoicing victory over the Al Houthis, vice president, Khaled Bahah, spoke to reporters from the area on Saturday, saying that his government is committed to securing the strait. Violence in Yemen was exacerbated when Al Houthi militants , who took control of the capital in September last year, sent troops to the port city of Aden to capture president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Riyadh in March. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition of allied countries and began bombing Al Houthi militantsin March with the aim of holding off their advance and bringing back Hadi’s government.

Hadi’s loyalists, backed by the coalition, have driven Al Houthi militants out of seventy-five percent of Yemen’s territory.

In Taiz residents have appealed to coalition forces and the government to break the Al Houthi blockade on the city, adding that the city is experiencing severe shortages of food, medicine and drinking water.

- with inputs from Reuters