(Photo: AP)

SANAA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni army said on Saturday it launched an offensive against the Houthi rebels in the northern province of Saada and captured several strategic highland sites.

The offensive took place on Friday in Baqim district and was backed by the Saudi-led coalition fighter jets, the army said in a statement carried by the government-run Saba news agency.

Dozens of the rebels were killed and others wounded in the military operation, the army said, without specifying the number.

There was no comment yet by the Houthi group.

Saada, which borders Saudi Arabia, is the main stronghold of the Houthi group.

The Houthis stormed the capital Sanaa and seized much of the country's north in late 2014, forcing the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.

The UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths has been shuttling between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels to try to rescue a peace deal reached in Stockholm in 2018.