Forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seized Yemen's southern province of Shabwa on Saturday, residents and tribesmen said, building momentum after weeks of victories against the rebel Houthi movement, Reuters reported. The loyalist fighters have advanced on a broad front through southern Yemen in recent weeks, forcing the Houthi miliias and army units aligned with the deposed President Ali Abdullah Saleh into retreat. Tribal sources said a pro-Saleh military commander in the area had agreed with tribal forces to withdraw from the provincial capital Ataq after a week of fierce fighting throughout the province. "As per the agreement with tribes that pledged not to allow al-Qaeda members to be present in Ataq, the city was handed over to the tribes," a Houthi official told Reuters. The Houthi militias seized the capital Sanaa in September.
