Yemeni government army on Friday advanced into the northern district of Harad near the Saudi Arabian border, recapturing a military camp, a village, and a series of strategic border mountains from the Houthi militia.

"The operation began at dawn with heavy support from warplanes of the Saudi-led Arab coalition backing the Yemeni government forces," a Yemeni military source on the front line Said in Harad in the northwestern province of Hajjah.

The operation came simultaneously with another offensive launched by the Yemeni army to recapture districts in the oil-rich province of Marib in central Yemen.

Last month, the Houthi militia lost several districts in the southeastern province of Shabwa.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.