Yemeni forces seized on Friday the capital city of the Al Jawf governorate after Houthi militants fled the town, sources told Al Arabiya News Channel.
Yemeni troops supported by popular resistance fighters advanced into the town of Al Hazm in retaliation to what the sources described as “breaches by the Houthis” in the past few hours, Al Arabiya reported.
Separately, two ballistic missiles were fired from Yemen at Saudi Arabia. One was intercepted by the Arab coalition while the other landed in a desert area east of the Saudi city of Najran, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The developments in Yemen are parallel to U.N.-mediated peace talks currently underway in Geneva. The head Houthi envoy to the negotiations denied that the delegation had withdrawn from the talks, adding that a letter of protest had been filed to the United Nations on breaches committed during the conflict. It was reported earlier that the Houthis were absent citing “developments on the ground.”
Al Arabiya News, 18 December 2015
