Loyalists retake Yemen's biggest airbase in new blow for rebels

Aden

 Pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition retook Yemen's biggest airbase from Iran-backed rebels yesterday in a significant new gain after their recapture of second city Aden last month.

 Their seizure of the Al Anad base in a 24-hour assault using heavy armour supplied by the coalition came after hundreds of Gulf Arab troops landed in Aden to bolster the loyalist fightback.

 Hailing victory in the battle for Al Anad, the defence ministry vowed there would be no let-up in the war against the Shia Huthi rebels and their allies until the authority of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi was restored over the whole country.

 The Al Anad base, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Aden, is strategically located on the main road north towards both the battleground third city of Taez and the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

 The vast 15 square kilometre (six square mile) complex housed US troops overseeing a drone war against Al Qaeda in Yemen until shortly before the rebels overran it in March.

 Its loss is a major blow for the rebels, whose leader Abdulmalik al Huthi claimed that their ouster from Aden after four months of ferocious fighting was just a "short-term" setback that would be reversed.

 The loyalists swiftly pushed on from Al Anad yesterday, attacking the rebel-held Labouza army camp 10 kilometres (six miles) further north, military sources said.

 Pro-government sources said that the rebels lost 70 dead and 10 captured in the fighting for Al Anad.

 Meanwhile, 24 loyalists were dead and 23 were wounded.