Aden, Nov. 3 (AFP): Fierce clashes flared between Yemen’s Huthi rebels and pro-government forces near a key port on Friday as a Saudi-led coalition backing the loyalists said it had attacked an airbase in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
A day after the government offered to restart peace talks with the insurgents, a pro-government military source told AFP that loyalist forces closing in on the Huthi-held Red Sea port city of Hodeidah had reached its university.
The advance sparked intense fighting with rebels, with medical workers at two hospitals in the city reporting at least 34 Huthi fighters killed and dozens wounded over the past 24 hours. Pro-government military officials and a medic in Hodeidah said six loyalist fighters had died in the violence.
The fighting began Thursday evening, backed by dozens of Saudi-led coalition air strikes, according to military officials.
It came days after the coalition sent more than 10,000 new troops towards Hodeidah ahead of a fresh assault, according to Yemeni government officials.
Hodeida’s port is the entry point for more than 70 percent of imports to the impoverished country, which is teetering on the edge of famine.
A pro-government force backed by the United Arab Emirates said it had launched “a large-scale military operation to liberate and cleanse Hodeida” of the Huthi rebels.
The coalition has been waging an aerial bombing campaign in Yemen since 2015 aimed at pushing the Huthis back after they seized Sanaa and large parts of Yemen, but the rebels still hold the capital and parts of the Red Sea coast.
After UN-backed peace talks collapsed in September, the coalition announced it was re-launching an assault on Hodeida.
The fighting had since eased, but this week’s developments mark a major escalation as international calls grow for peace talks. Since the start of the Saudi-led intervention, nearly 10,000 civilians have been killed, according to the World Health Organisation.
