Saudi coalition kills wanted Houthi commander, while rebel 'torture' intelligence chief 'dies of Covid'

Saudi coalition kills wanted Houthi commander, while rebel 'torture' intelligence chief 'dies of Covid'
Abdul Latif Hammoud, a Houthi commander who had a $5 million bounty on his head was killed by the Saudi-led coalition in Marib.
2 min read
06 April, 2021
The Houthis are trying to grab hold of Marib [Getty]
Houthi commander was killed in Yemen’s Marib as a battle to capture the governate from the Hadi government rages on.

Abdul Latif Hammoud, a military officer who was wanted by the Saudi-led coalition, was killed in a coalition raid on Monday evening.

Local sources said a number of high-ranking Houthi figures were also killed in the raid.

Al-Mahdi was the Houthi’s commander of the Fourth Military Region and was first proclaimed as "Wanted" in November 2017.

The Saudi-led coalition had allocated $5 million as a reward for anyone who provided information on him.

The coalition also destroyed four vehicles allegedly belonging to the Houthis, killing all on board.

Saudi news also reported the death of a Houthi security chief from Covid-19.

Sultan Zabin was the director of the rebels' notorious Criminal Investigation Department in Sanaa. He was sanctioned by the US and UN for his alleged links to rape and torture of detainees, according to Arab News.

Pro-Houthi media reported that Zabin died "from an incurable disease", with Al-Arabiya reporting he contracted Covid-19. 

The Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemen government are facing off in the Marib region, an oil-rich province the Houthis are seeking to capture.

Houthi rebels seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014, forcing the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi into exile.

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched an offensive against the Houthis in 2015 shortly after the rebel group captured the capital Sanaa.

The fierce ground offensive in Marib, the only governorate in northern Yemen not controlled by the Houthis, comes amid a new push by diplomats to end the war.

The war, now in its sixth year, has claimed thousands of lives and created what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions at risk of famine.

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