Aden (AX) — Yemen’s anti-Houthi National Resistance Forces (NRF) said Monday that several al-Shabab militants were killed alongside Houthi fighters in recent clashes on the country’s west coast.
The NRF’s military media outlet said the men’s identities were confirmed through documents and personal belongings recovered from their bodies, which it said demonstrated their links to al-Shabab.
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The NRF said the reported presence of al-Shabab members among Houthi forces indicated coordination between the Iran-backed movement and armed groups operating elsewhere in the region.
The claim has not been independently verified.
Fighting has intensified in several parts of Yemen in recent weeks, including the western coastal areas where the alleged al-Shabab members were reportedly killed.
A series of recent investigations by The Century Foundation’s Century International initiative described what it called an unprecedented and expanding operational alliance between Yemen’s Houthi movement and Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group.
Led by Tareq Saleh, the National Resistance Forces form part of a broader coalition of anti-Houthi factions aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
The NRF has taken part in renewed battles across Yemen as violence has escalated since the Houthis intensified attacks on government positions in recent months.
The latest escalation has fueled concern that the country could slide back into full-scale war, four years after a fragile truce was first established.
While the U.N.-brokered truce ended several months after its 2022 agreement, clashes between Houthi forces and Yemen’s internationally recognized government had generally eased in the years since.
