Government troops are now in control of 80 per cent of Yemen’s territory, President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi said in an interview with the Saudi daily Al Riyadh published on Sunday.

Hadi said that pro-government forces would press on with the offensive on the Iran-backed Houthis until they are forced to the negotiating table and honour previous commitments.

Hadi praised Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz for his “strategic” and “brave” decision to enter the war on March 26, 2015.

He also predicted that the Yemeni crisis would “soon” be over, but warned that there would be a heightened military escalation.

Hadi fled Yemen when the Houthis took over the north and expanded their military presence towards to the south in March of 2015.