ADEN: Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, bolstered by Gulf support, have seized the country’s largest military base from Houthi forces after heavy combat, said a pro-Hadi commander.

If confirmed, the victory would mark another significant gain for the Hadi loyalists after they drove the Houthis from the southern port of Aden in July.

The recapture of the Al-Anad base also opens up the road north to the city of Taiz, where Iranian-allied Houthi militias have been locked in combat with local fighters siding with Hadi.

“The national army and the popular resistance have completed control of the Al-Anad military and air base,” the operation commander, Brig.-General Fadel Hassan, told Reuters by telephone.

He said dozens of Houthis were killed or captured during hours of clashes, while hundreds have fled.

His forces were combing the base, which covers an area of 40 square km for any Houthis who may have remained behind.

He said his force would march on to complete the “liberation” of the provinces of Lahej and Abyan.

The base has been under siege for weeks by the Southern Resistance, an alliance of southern groups including secessionists seeking an independent south Yemen.

The assault began after new weapons, including armored vehicles that had been supplied by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, arrived to reinforce fighters.

Witnesses said they saw dozens of new armored vehicles heading in two separate columns in the morning toward Al-Anad.

Saudi Arabia, which has weighed in with support for Hadi, says the conflict is a proxy war in Iran’s efforts to expand its influence in the region.

The conflict has caused international concern.

Yemeni Vice President Khaled Bahah arrived in Aden on Saturday, the most senior official from the government to visit since the Houthi retreat.

Army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have fought alongside the Houthis throughout the conflict.

Al-Hayat newspaper said 1,500 troops, most of them from the UAE, had reached Aden.

The UAE is a member of the coalition which has carried out more than four months of air strikes targeting the rebels and their allies.

Military sources spoke of further progress by loyalist forces who they said had recaptured Houta, the provincial capital of Lahj, and seized Al-Ribat highway north of Aden.

Aid relief has trickled in since pro-government forces forced the rebels out, and distribution of desperately needed supplies for Aden’s embattled residents has begun.

The airport reopened on July 22, allowing planes to land with supplies from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.