A Yemeni military official said Sunday that Houthi militias have been struck with heavy military and economic losses since the US administration imposed new sanctions on their Iranian backers last month. Such challenges have limited their capabilities to mobilize and carry out military operations, the official said. “Recent developments, mainly sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime, put a heavy strain on the Houthi militias,” assistant of Chief Service at the Yemeni Defense Ministry’s Counseling Departing Lieutenant General Khaled Al Karni told Asharq Al-Awsat. Al Karni, who spoke by phone with the newspaper from Yemen’s Saada province, said Houthi capabilities are dropping on a daily basis mainly after the sanctions imposed on Iran, their main financier and supporter. He explained that the National Army is only 25 kilometers away from the capital of Saada province, which constitutes the principle stronghold of Houthis. “There is good progress in Kitaf and at the axis of Baqem. Houthi losses are on the rise,” he said, adding that airstrikes launched by the Yemeni Army play a leading role in the military operations. Kitaf is one of five axes along which government forces are advancing to regain control of Saada. “The Yemeni Army is currently a few kilometers away from the center of the Kitaf directorate, a development that represents a strategic turnout,” he said, adding that in the coming phase, Yemen’s army plans to encircle the center of Saada’s capital.