Roundup: Yemeni gov't troops seize 2 northern Houthi-held towns despite truce

Yemeni government troops backed by Saudi-led coalition forces on Friday seized two Houthi-held towns in northern Yemen, military officials said, despite a seven-day cease-fire announced on Tuesday.

The troops, trained and equipped in Saudi Arabia, crossed the border from the oil-rich Kingdom early on Friday.

They engaged in heavy clashes against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi group and seized control of the Yemeni northwest border city of Harad, about 15 km from Saudi border, a military official there told Xinhua by phone.

Harad had been under control of the Houthis fighters since early in 2014 as a stronghold from where they used to launch missiles towards southern Saudi regions.

Also, two Saudi-backed Yemeni government battalions advanced from near southern Saudi border and retook al-Hazm, the capital city of the northeast province of al-Jouf.

They engaged in intensified clashes against the Houthis that led to the collapse of all rebel military camps surrounding the capital city, an official source with the leadership of the Yemeni battalions told Xinhua.

Tribal sources in al-Jouf confirmed that most parts of the province are now under government troops control.

Military sources said the troops are moving towards other areas of al-Jouf province to secure all its borders with oil-rich northeast province Marib.

In Marib, the government troops on Friday gained more territories after they seized the rebel-held main military camp, a local military official told Xinhua.

The Shiite Houthis said they fired two ballistic missiles, one towards Marib, while another one towards the Saudi southern region of Najran.

The Saudi-led coalitions forces at the same time said they intercepted both missiles, neutralizing them in the air before they could hit the targets, and warned to end the truce.

The Coalition Forces Command said in a statement that while it was keen to make the Geneva negotiations a success and help find a peaceful solution to the Yemeni crisis, it will not remain committed to the truce for a long time amid current threats to the territories of Saudi Arabia and, instead, will repulse to stop the fool playing of the Houthi militias and their supporters.

A seven-day cease-fire went into effect on Tuesday noon between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the armed Houthi group across the country's war-torn provinces.

The renewable pause coincides with the kick-off of UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland between the two warring sides.

The talks aims to find a solution to the Yemeni crisis, including establishing a permanent cease-fire and a peaceful and orderly political transition in the country.

However, the Houthi delegation was absent from the peace talks in protest over the capturing of two strategic northern towns by the government troops despite the truce, a source close to the talks said. The government troops retook five southern province from Houthi group in July.

The coalition media reported that the UN envoy to Yemen failed to convince the Houthis to resume talks.

The Houthi media blamed the United Nations for complicity and traded accusations of breaching the cease-fire with President Hadi's government delegation in Switzerland.

Yemen was plunged into violence in September 2014 when the Shiite Houthi group, backed by troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, invaded the country's capital Sanaa, driving President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out civil war between pro-government forces and Houthi militias, followed by the intervention of a Saudi-led Arab coalition who vows to restore the legitimate government of Hadi.

The almost daily air raids by the Saudi-led alliance and fighting on the ground have killed more than 6,000 people in Yemen and forced thousands of others to flee their homes. Endit