(17 Mar 2017) Fighting in Yemen continued on Decmeber 31st 2016 at Naham 40, kilometres (about 25 miles) east of the capital Sanaa.
Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has been at war since the Houthis swept into the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
The Yemeni government and a Saudi-led and US-backed coalition has been waging a fierce air campaign against the rebels since March 2015, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge them from the capital, and much of the country's north.
Some 10,000 people in Yemen have been killed or wounded in the conflict
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Pro-government forces on January 8th continued to battle with Houthi rebels near Mqubnh over a strategic area in the Yemeni highlands.
Following heavy clashes, pro-government fighters regained control over most of the mountain ridges that overlook the main road leading to the coastal regions of Zobab in the eastern part of Taiz province.
Since April of last year, Taiz has been divided, with the eastern and mountain-top districts under Houthi control and the city centre controlled by fighters backed by the coalition.
In the previous week, troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition have pushed the Houthis out of several districts.
Yemen has been in the grip of a civil war since 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels and allied forces swept down from the north and captured the capital, Sanaa.
The conflict pits the country's internationally recognised government and the Saudi-led coalition against Houthis, who are allied with Yemen's long-time former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Local affiliates of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have exploited the chaos to grab land and exercise influence.
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Forces allied with the internationally-recognized government of Yemen seized control of a strategic Red Sea port on January 24th after waging an assault against Shiite rebels, a top military commander said.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Seif al-Yafai said in press remarks that his forces have entered the city of Mokha, where dozens of families were seen fleeing days of clashes and bombardment.
Dozens of fighters were killed as the bodies of the slain men littered streets and sidewalks, witnesses said.
Mokha, one of Yemen's oldest ports, is seen as a weapons lifeline to the rebels and their allies - who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the northern region.
A Saudi-led military coalition is backing the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and seeking to restore him to power.
The assault on Mokha aims at securing the entire western coastline including the ports of Hodeida and al-Saleef - which the northern region depends on for imports of basic food necessities and which the coalition also believes are main transit points for weapons coming from Iran.
If Hadi's forces manage to seize the ports, the rebels - known as Houthis - will be largely cut off from the outside world; the Saudi-led coalition has enforced a no-fly zone that has kept the Sanaa airport closed.
The Mokha campaign comes at a time of a political deadlock.
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As part of a sustained assault on the extremist group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), US warplanes have launched more than 30 airstrikes in Yemen in the past two days, a Pentagon spokesman said on March 3rd.
Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters that US airstrikes have targeted members of the group as well as their facilities, equipment, fighting positions and heavy weapons such as artillery.
Davis said the number of bombs dropped in the airstrikes numbering in the "mid-20s" had been launched on Thursday, followed by several more Friday, putting the combined total at more than 30.
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