Yemen's pro-government forces declared Sunday that 13 members of the Houthi rebel group were killed while trying to advance into army positions in the country's southern province of Dhalea. The Houthi attackers were forced to withdraw back towards their locations in the neighboring central province of Ibb following short armed confrontations with army soldiers, according to a statement released on the Defense Ministry website. No information, however, was given about casualties among the pro-government army forces following the clash. The pro-government Yemeni forces managed to make on-ground advances and managed to expel the Houthi rebels from several villages in Dhalea during the past weeks. In April, the Houthi fighters launched a series of intense armed attacks on the positions of government forces and succeeded in seizing the district of Al Husha in the west of Dhalea. The areas in the north and west of Dhalea, 138 km north of Aden, have been witnessing non-stop fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters for about four years. Yemen has been plagued by a civil war since late 2014 after Houthi rebels revolted and forced the internationally-recognized government into exile.