Marib (Debriefer) the Yemeni national army has foiled new Houthi attempts to advance in the northeastern governorate of Marib, spokesman for the government armed forces said on Sunday, hours after the Houthis said they captured new districts in the oil-rich governorate.
Marib battles are continuous, but the Houthi breaches "won't continue in Abdia and Hareeb districts in Marib," Abdu Mujali added in remarks to Al-Jazeera TV.
The government troops foiled Houthi attempts to infiltrate into some Marib fronts, the Yemeni military official said.
Backed by public resistance, the national army used tactics of attacking and circumventing that left hundreds of Houthi militants killed or injured, and thwarted all the Houthi attacks, the Yemeni defense ministry-run 26september.net quoted Mujaly as saying.
The army spokesman accused the Iranian-backed Houthi group of adopting the scorched earth policy in Abdia, besieging and shelling the villages with ballistic missiles randomly.
Separately, spokesman for the government said Abdia districts is still witnessing attack-and-retreat battles pitting the national army against Houthi fighters.
The Houthi group fires ballistic missiles at mini towns and villages in Abdia, putting the life of children, women and civilians at risk, and denying access to food and medicines in inhumane siege, Rajih Badi told the Anadolu Agency.
Earlier on Sunday, the Houthi group claimed seizure of three districts in Shabwa governorate and two districts and parts of other two in Marib.