At least 149 people including civilians have been killed in 24 hours of clashes between government loyalists and rebels in Yemen´s flashpoint city of Hodeida, medics and military sources said Monday.
A source in Yemen´s pro-government military coalition, which is backed by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, said the Houthi rebels had pushed back a large-scale offensive aimed at moving up the Red Sea coastline towards the Hodeida port, a lifeline to 14 million Yemenis who face mass starvation.
Government forces, led on the ground by Emirati-backed troops, have made their way into rebel-held Hodeida after 11 days of clashes, reaching residential neighbourhoods in the east on Sunday and sparking fears of street fights that would further endanger civilians trapped in the city.
Residents and government military sources have reported rebel snipers stationed on rooftops in civilian streets in eastern Hodeida, a few miles from the port on the western edge of the city.
The Hodeida offensive has sparked international outcry unprecedented in nearly four years of conflict between Yemen´s Houthis, and the Saudi-backed government.
Aid groups fear for the safety of nearly 600,000 people living in Hodeida — and for millions of others dependent on its port for what little food and humanitarian aid trickle into impoverished, blockaded Yemen.