Yemeni government forces on Saturday recaptured substantial territory from the Houthis in the provinces of Al-Bayda and Shabwa. 

Backed by air cover from Arab coalition warplanes, the loyalist Giants Brigades liberated several villages and mountains before storming the center of the Noaman district in Al-Bayda. 

A convoy of armed vehicles and jubilant fighters entered scattered villages in Noaman after the Houthis deserted their positions in the face of advancing government troops. 

The new military advances in Al- Bayda came a day after the Giants Brigades took full control of the district of Al-Bayhan in the oil-rich province of Shabwa after fierce clashes with the Houthis.

In September, the Houthis captured Bayhan, Ouselan and Al-Ain districts in Shabwa and later attacked the central city of Marib from the south.

On Friday, the Giant Brigades gave a six-hour ultimatum for the Houthis to withdraw from Al-Ain, the last district under the militia’s control in Shabwa. 

But instead of attacking the Houthis in Al-Ain, north of the newly liberated Bayhan, as many expected, they moved westward and began assaulting Houthi-controlled areas in the province of Al-Bayda, taking them by surprise. 

The Houthis have suffered a string of military setbacks in the province of Shabwa this month, after the Giants Brigades seized control of the districts of Ouselan and Bayhan and key military bases in the province. Dozens of Houthis and government soldiers have been killed in the fighting in Shabwa. If the military gains by government forces continue at the same pace, loyalists could expel the Houthis from Al-Ain in the coming days, and cut important supply lines to the Houthis in Marib. At the same time, Yemenis were warned against traveling on the Bayhan-Al-Bayda road due to the fighting.