Scores of Iranian-backed coup rebels were killed in heaving artillery shelling on their positions by the legitimate army and the resistance in the Southeastern Shabwah governorate, a Yemeni news website reported on Monday. Masdar Online quoted residents and military sources as saying the Houthis and their allies were forced to evacuate their positions in Osailan town and retreat to other areas. It quoted witnesses as they saw a large number of insurgents fleeing the area and carrying bodies of their militia men who were killed in the shelling by Brigade 19 of the national Yemeni army, backed by resistance fighters. "Scores of the rebels were killed in the shelling by the army...they responded by shelling residential areas from their positions in other areas," the report said. It quoted military sources as saying Brigade 19 and resistance men deployed in that area were on alert on Sunday to prepare for a major offensive to seize Osailan and nearby Bihan. It said hundreds of resistance fighters and tribal men were arriving in that area to join the offensive to liberate the governorate.
