Loyalists retake Yemen's biggest airbase, defence ministry says

Advancing loyalist forces recaptured Yemen's biggest airbase from the Houthis on Tuesday after a 24-hour assault using heavy armour supplied by a Saudi-led coalition, the defence ministry said.

A ministry statement hailed the victory and said that loyalist forces would press their fightback against the Houthis and their allies until the authority of exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi was restored over all of Yemen.

Retaking al-Anad, a 40 square kilometre complex including hangars and warehouses, will likely bolster security in Aden. In mid-July, Hadi's government announced the city, where he and many officials fled from Houthi-held Sanaa earlier this year, had been liberated. 

It would also open the way to loyalist forces to push further north, towards the city of Taiz, against the Houthis, who have enjoyed strong support on the ground from fighters close to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the area.

The pro-government forces included the national army and popular resistence fighters who killed dozens of Houthis during the fight, Bridgadier-General Fadel Hassan, the operation's commander, told Reuters.

Just before the assault began, they were armed with new weapons, including armoured vehicles supplied by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the news agency reported.

Adam Baron, a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted that the UAE appears to have played a key role in aiding the forces that took al-Anad. He pointed out that Yemen's Vice President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah is currently in Abu Dhabi.

On Tuesday morning, the fighters were combing the base to check for any remaining Houthis or their allies. 

Hassan said they now plan to march on to Lahj and Abyan provinces.