The Saudi-backed Yemeni government has dismissed claims that the Houthis have taken control of a large area of Bayda province, according to the official Yemeni news agency Saba.

Last Tuesday, the Iran-backed Houthi Military Spokesman Yahya Sarei said in a televised statement that they had seized 1,000 square kilometres from the Saudi-backed government.

Sarei’s statement was also published in the Houthi-controlled version of Saba.

Rajeh Sarei, the spokesman for the internationally recognised government, described the Houthis’ claims as “lies.”

“The statement by the so-called official spokesman of the militias, in which he claimed making victories in Wild Rabei and nearby areas in Bayda, is a continuation of the lies made by the coup’s militias,” Sarei said in a statement.

He added that the Houthis’ claims aim at diverting the Yemeni people’s attention from the tragedies and destruction caused by the Houthis in the past six years.

In 2014, the Shia Houthi movement took over the government in Sanaa, ousted the internationally recognised government of Mansur Hadi, and gradually seized areas in the north of the country.

In response, a Saudi-led military coalition launched a military intervention in 2015 to repel the Houthis and restore Hadi’s government in Sanaa.