Iran-backed Houthis rebels have kidnapped 300 civilians, mostly elderly and children, in a week in the town of Adeen, local sources said, as reported by al-Arabiya on Wednesday. The kidnappings came after the killing of Houthis commander Abu Abdulrahman Al-Alwi in the district last Friday.

The kidnapped people were all civilians from the villages of Dbayeh and al-Meydan in the Ramid district, according to local sources.

Yemen fell into civil war in 2014 after Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, forcing members of the country's internationally recognized government to temporarily flee to Saudi Arabia. The following year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a major air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen's Saudi-backed government. Yemen has been wracked by chaos since late 2014, when Houthi rebels and their allies overran the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of the country. The conflict escalated in mid-2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a major air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen's embattled Saudi-backed government.