The Yemeni army captured on Sunday the Taiz-Hodeidah road amid ongoing clashes with the Iran-backed Houthi militias across the country. In Taiz, the army continued its advance to liberate several positions east, west and north of the city as part of a wider campaign to complete the liberation of the entire province and lift its siege. Meanwhile, the national army announced that the first commander of the coup operations in Taiz, Abou Othman, was killed on Saturday while inspecting militant positions in Tabat al-Silal east of the city. The Taiz media center confirmed his death in a statement, adding that three Houthis were also killed in the area by national military artillery fire. Infantry from the national army seized several locations in Taiz, including Tabat al-Jabairiye and al-Tabra al-Safra in the Sharaf al-Ainain region west of the city. These positions are strategic because they overlook the Taiz-Hodeidah road. A military source highlighted to Asharq Al-Awsat the significance of these advances, saying that they pave the way for the complete capture of Sharaf al-Ainain. In the al-Bayda province, the national army thwarted an ambush by the rebels against military and national resistance positions in Jabal Ktaf in Nateh, leaving three dead from among their ranks, a resistance source told Asharq Al-Awsat. Four Houthis were also arrested in the operation. The militants retaliated to their losses by heavily shelling a number of villages in al-Bayda. The Arab Coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen later carried out an airstrike against militant artillery in the al-Masouh region west of Nateh.