Yemeni forces take Al Mokha from Houthis

Al Mokha (Yemen) - More than 150 fighters from both sides have been killed in the battle for the coastline since the government offensive was launched on January 7.

Yemeni government forces captured on Monday the port of Al Mokha as they pushed to oust Houthi rebels from the Red Sea coastline, an AFP journalist said.
Government forces were combing the port, a journalist accompanying the troops said, almost three weeks after the loyalists launched an offensive against the rebels and their allies on Yemen's southwestern coast.
An official statement said government forces recaptured the whole city, but a military commander in the field said loyalists were still fighting the rebels on the southern outskirts of Al Mokha.
Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi launched a vast offensive on January 7 to retake the Dhubab district overlooking the Bab Al Mandab strait, a key maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Warplanes and Apache attack helicopters from a Saudi-led Arab coalition have been pounding the rebels in support of pro-Hadi forces, military sources said.
The rebel's media arm claimed however that insurgent fighters repelled loyalist troops as they advanced on the village of Jadid, some 10km south of Al Mokha.
More than 150 fighters from both sides have been killed in the battle for the coastline since the government offensive was launched on January 7.
Houthis have controlled Al Mokha since they overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced on other regions aided by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The coalition mounted a military campaign against the rebels in March 2015 as insurgents closed in on Hadi in his refuge in the southern city of Aden and forced him to seek exile in Riyadh.
Loyalists have since drove rebels out of five southern provinces, including Aden.
Hadi praises UAE forces' role in Al Mokha win
Backed by the Arab Coalition, the Yemeni army and the popular resistance forces liberated Al Mokha city and its port, west of Taiz Governorate, from Houthi militia and the Saleh group.
Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi praised the role of the UAE Armed Forces who effectively helped in liberating the city and the port of Al Mokha and also played a key role in other victories achieved by the army on various fronts. He also lauded the support of the Arab Coalition forces, led by Saudi Arabia.
Yemen's official news agency quoted General Ahmed Saif Al Yafei, Deputy Chief of General Staff, as saying during a telephone conversation with President Hadi, that the army and the popular resistance forces had managed to fully liberate Al Mokha following fierce battles with the coup militias.
The president congratulated the commanders, officers and non-commissioned officers as well as the army, popular resistance and Yemeni people on the victories scored with the support of the Arab coalition forces.
He also stressed the need to continue with such victories in various fronts until the coup militias are cleared from all governorates of Yemen.