Fighting flares in Yemen’s Taiz as Houthis attack military base

SMA NEWS – TAIZ
Heavy fighting between Yemeni government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis broke out on Wednesday in the city of Taiz after the militia bombarded and attacked a strategic hilltop military base, local army officials said.
Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni military official in Taiz, said that the Houthis shelled an air defense military base in northwest Taiz on Wednesday morning before sending ground troops to attack the base.
It sparked heavy fighting with government troops, and explosions rocked different neighborhoods.
“Army soldiers pushed back the Houthis and exchanged machine gun fire, forcing them to leave,” Al-Baher said.
The Houthis have been attacking the vital Air Defense Military Base for some time in an attempt to seize control of it, which would give them fire control over several areas of the densely populated city and allow them to completely tighten their siege of Taiz by closing a route that connects the city to southern towns.
“The Air Defense Military Base is a sprawling military complex that stretches across numerous hills and was developed by China in the 1970s,” Al-Baher said. “The Houthis would fully seize control of the northwestern regions of Taiz if they gained control of the base. They would thus use light weaponry to block the lone route connecting the city to the outside world.”