Houthi forces and their army allies in Yemen seized the capital of a large desert province on the border with Saudi Arabia on Sunday, residents said, an important victory for the group ahead of peace talks in Geneva on Monday.
The Houthis, the dominant faction in Yemen's civil war, took control of al-Hazm, capital of the province of al-Jawf, amid Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Houthi positions and heavy fighting with armed tribesmen.
"The Houthi forces and those loyal to the former president spread out in the city and around government buildings," a tribal source in al-Hazm told Reuters by phone.