On July 9, Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement announced that it had recaptured all the areas it had lost to Saudi-backed forces in the al-Zahir area of ​​Yemen’s central al-Bayda province.

Saudi-backed forces launched a large-scale offensive in al-Zahir last week. Initially, there were some serious victories against the Houthis in al-Zahir and other parts of al-Bayada; however, the situation began changing on July 7, when the Houthis repelled two attacks in al-Zahir and the nearby al-Zahir district of Sawma’ah. On July 8, the Houthis recaptured the center of al-Zahir.

The Houthis continued to retake all the positions and areas they had lost in al-Zahir in a counterattack supported by local factions. The Houthis and their allies were pushed forward from four directions.

Newly-released footage depicts Soviet-era Houthi battle tanks and heavy machine guns firing on Saudi-backed fighters, forcing them to leave their positions in al-Zahir.

Despite this major setback, Saudi Arabia’s offensive has not ended yet. Saudi-led coalition warplanes conducted several airstrikes on Houthi positions and equipment in al-Bayda in the past 24 hours.

The attack on al-Bayda was aimed at putting pressure on the Houthis, who led a large-scale operation against Saudi-backed forces in the nearby province of Ma’rib. 

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With information from: Southftront.org