SANAA, Yemen -- Yemen's pro-government troops fought pockets of resistance outside a key military base in the country's south Tuesday, a day after they seized it from Shiite rebels, military officials said.
The capture of the al-Anad base -- once the site of U.S. intelligence operations against al-Qaida's powerful Yemeni affiliate -- was a significant victory for the forces allied with Yemen's exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in their battle to reverse the gains of the rebel Houthis.
The base was taken by the rebels when the conflict intensified in the spring and was their main encampment in the country's south. The pro-government forces took 45 prisoners in the battle for the base and were marching north toward another rebel-held military base called Labouza -- the largest in the south, the military officials said.
As al-Anad fell, rebel fighters fled to the nearby hills, the officials added. Yemen's Defense Ministry announced the "liberation of Al-Anad military base" in a statement late Monday, thanking the Saudi-led coalition that has been targeting the Houthis in an air campaign since March.
Ministry officials and military leaders from Hadi's government in exile in Saudi Arabia returned to the southern city of Aden last week, and the statement was issued from there. In a statement carried by rebel-controlled news agency SABA late Monday, the rebels denied the base had been taken.
It took several days to capture al-Anad, with pro-government troops -- backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers -- pushing toward the base as coalition airstrikes cleared the path for their advance. Military officials said allied fighters had cut off the main road between al-Anad and the city of Taiz for the first time since the Houthis took control of it in March.
Meanwhile, at least 15 pro-government fighters were killed by two land mine explosions in their push north toward the Houthi-controlled al-Houta, the capital of Lahj province, pro-government militia and Houthi officials said.
In Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, ground fighting raged for hours, killing at least seven fighters and wounding 47, security officials from both sides said. Two civilians were also killed, medical officials added.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters.
The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and Hadi's loyalists.
After months of fighting, pro-government forces recently pushed rebels out of Aden and advanced in Taiz.
Since last month, they have received military supplies shipped by sea to Aden, including new heavy and medium weapons and ammunition such as tanks, artillery, missiles and armored vehicles in shipments from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The spokesman of the Yemeni government in exile, Rageh Badie, said the government also has requested that flights on Yemen's national carrier bound for the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, be diverted to Aden.
In Geneva, the United Nations refugee agency said 100,000 people have fled the fighting in Yemen over the past four months. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters that the agency only has one-fifth of the funds needed to meet this outflow.
"With funding also low for operations inside Yemen, UNHCR is concerned that delivery of assistance there, as well as to refugees fleeing the country, will be at risk without additional funding soon," Edwards said.
Information for this article was contributed by Frank Jordans of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/05/2015