Pair of UAE-supplied and likely operated Oshkosh M-ATV MRAPs engaged in Aden street fighting on 18JUL15, from roughly 100 fighting vehicles said to now join battle in the Yemen conflict.
According to Agence France-Presse, dated 20JUL15:
ADEN: Yemeni pro-government forces on Sunday sought to tighten their control of Aden as Houthi rebels mounted resistance in some districts, two days after the regime declared the city “liberated.”
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On Sunday, fighters from the pro-Hadi Popular Resistance advanced towards the rebel-held district of Al Tawahi, a military source said.
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Swathes of the southern city have been reduced to rubble by the four months of ferocious fighting.
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Around 15 air strikes targeted rebel positions in Al Tawahi and on the northern outskirts of the city where rebels had brought reinforcements, military sources and witnesses said.
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Fighting also went on in the district of Crater where some rebels remain holed up, according to pro-Hadi fighters.
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A rebel spokesman dismissed the government’s claims on Saturday that it had seized control of Aden as “psychological warfare and an attempt to improve the crushed morale” of loyalist fighters.
On Sunday, a spokesman of the Houthis’ Ansarullah movement said the rebels had “regained the lead and repelled several attacks by the mercenaries.”COMMENTARY: The long-planned Saudi/UAE led couter-offensive against the Sanaa government in Yemen has made gains, seizing upon the opportunity of a humanitarian truce that had been sought and broken.
On 14JUL15 forces aligned with and encompassing the Saudi/UAE led military effort took Aden International Airport and reportedly cleared the Khormaksar district of pro-Sanaa government forces.
The counter-offensive has rendered in pockets elements of Ansarullah forces deployed in the peninsula.
By 16JUL15 forces aligned with and encompassing the Saudi/UAE led military effort had retaken large parts in the port area of Mualla near Aden and entered the commercial district of Crater.
On 17JUL15, Saudi/UAE sources and the government in exile said that they had "liberated Aden from the Houthis". Despite that, Ansarullah forces still controlled the eastern and northern entrances to the city, and pockets of fighting have been observed.
Forces aligned with and encompassing the Saudi/UAE led military effort continue to press on with the counter-offensive by reportedly capturing two military bases, one of them in the Lahij Province and the other in the eastern Shabwa province.
Saudi military and media sources on 19JUL15 reported civilian casualties resulted from "Houthi artillery fired from six miles away." This writer finds it implausible that Houthi light infantry and not the Yemeni Army would operate large caliber artillery, targeting from such a distance. Sanaa government sources counter that the casualties were the result of Saudi-led airstrikes and naval gunfire.
Whatever the case, the Saudi/UAE military effort against the Sanaa government has taken a more direct role in the ground fighting, while its air forces have used up air-to-ground munitions to such an extent that replenishment has been required from Britain, transferring Paveway IV precision guided bombs originally earmarked for the Royal Air Force to Saudi Arabia, to enable the Gulf state to build stocks of the weapon being used against targets in Yemen (and Syria).
Despite reports from Gulf-produced media, resistance to the counter-offensive against the Sanaa government appears to be continuing. Whether or not the Battle of Aden 2015 and Battle of Taiz render consolidated positions or drawn-out attrition warfare may well dictate the ultimate fortunes of the Saudi/UAE military intervention in Yemen.
Royal Saudi Land Force special forces said depicted at Battle of Aden 2015
