Gulf-backed forces in Yemen are preparing to retake the capital Sanaa after a day of unprecedented victories on Tuesday.

The anti-Houthi Popular Resistance Committees, dominated by southern separatist fighters, previously seized control of the key southern city of Aden.

The group, backed up by a Saudi-led coalition in the form of weapons and troops, has since inched northwards towards the capital, which has been under the control of Houthi rebels since last September.

Supporters of the anti-Houthi fighters, commonly known as the Resistance, claimed the group had surrounded the central city of Ibb, and had warned the Houthis to leave within 48 hours.

A resistance leader who spoke to local news site al-Masdar Online said the group had established its first checkpoints on the outskirts of the city, and had seized control of eastern suburbs.

The group’s advances on Tuesday, which come less than two weeks after the Saudi-led coalition reportedly landed a battalion of up to 5,000 of its troops to support Yemeni forces, left the resistance in control of sites less than 100km south of Sanaa.

A video circulated on social media claimed to show a huge military parade staged by anti-Houthi fighters just outside the capital. Set to a nationalist Yemeni song, the footage appears to show hundreds of uniformed fighters taking part in drills in a desert location.