SANA'A, Aug.9-Yemen's army Chief of Staff Brigadier General Mohammed Ali Al-Maqdashi said Iran is seeking to make Yemen a Persian empire, stressing that the recent victories of the resistance fighters are a prologue to librating the entire Yemen from the Houthis.

In a statement he has made during his visit to Marib, Al-Maqdashi said the war in Yemen is purely a Arab-Persian war.

Marib and several other governorates in Yemen's south and north have been seeing fierce clashes in many fighting fronts between the Houthis and tribal resistance fighters.

Al-Maqdashi said efforts are underway to build a strong national army loyal only to the nation, not to the sect or the tribe.

The Houthis took over the capital Sana'a in September of last year backed by forces loyal to former president Ali Abdulla Saleh. Their takeover of the capital lured them into expanding their control of many areas nationwide, causing Yemen to slide into a civil war.