Brigadier Obeid Bin Al Athela, the commander of Saada front, said on Wednesday that since launching their military operation, Yemeni National Army troops have made several advances in the north of the directorate although rebels tried to impede their victory by planting mines. “Following intense clashes with rebel militias, National Army forces were able to secure the international line linking the Saada governorate to the Hard directorate in the Hajja governorate, after uniting military brigades operating in Saada,” the commander said. The National Armys website "September Net” quoted Al Athela as saying that the Army controlled new areas in Saada’s Kitaf, adding that his forces would continue fighting until reaching Maran mountains, the bastion of the Houthi leader. Meanwhile, Colonel Abdul Basit Al Bahar, the deputy spokesperson for Yemens army in Taiz, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that the militias have committed a new massacre in the citys southwestern Al-Dabab district, killing two civilians and injuring two others in a mortar attack. The attacks coincided with renewed clashes at several fronts in Yemen’s central Al-Bayda governorate, mainly in the directorate of Naaman following an attack launched by the Houthis in the strategic Aqabat al-Qanzaa mountain range. Army and Resistance forces confronted the attack, forcing rebels to retreat to their positions and flee the area. A similar attack was launched on positions at the Hamra mountain that overlooks the Wadi Aashar in the Nate district where rebels were forced to retreat in the area of Fadha in al-Malajem directorate, sources from the Popular Resistance told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The National Army shot down a Houthi drone in the directorate of Naaman,” the sources said. The drone was downed over the highlands of Fadhaha in al-Malajem.