Yemen airstrikes resume; 15 allied fighters killed

Ground fighting erupted in multiple provinces within minutes of the start of the unilateral ceasefire late Sunday.

The rebels shelled residential areas in Jebel Sabr, witnesses said, although in the capital Sanaa and in central Yemen, officials and residents said the ceasefire appeared to hold.

The pause reported -led coalition commenced at 11:59 p.m. (2059 GMT, 4) Sunday.

So on Saturday, when the Saudis announced another week-long ceasefire, the Houthis were quick to reject the idea, saying they believe the announcement is just meant to strengthen the position of the Hadi forces.

A military source speaking with AFP said the raids targeted forces in Lahej province where Saudi-backed troops loyal to exiled Yemeni president Hadi have been advancing on Houthi rebels.

In announcing the truce, the coalition had reserved the right to respond to military activity or movement by the rebels and their allies. One Houthi official said it will likely mark “the beginning of a new war”.

Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, the self-described “president of the High Committee of the Revolution”, a body formed by Huthi militants, said in comments published by the rebel-controlled Saba news agency that his group had not been consulted by the UN.

Yemen has been rocked by months of fighting between the Houthis and Hadi loyalists, supported by the Arab coalition, leaving thousands dead and 21 million people in need of urgent aid. Ban also urged all sides “to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all parts of Yemen”.

Relief supplies, however, have begun to trickle into Aden after loyalist fighters secured the city, which had been Hadi’s last refuge before he fled to Saudi Arabia in March. They have previously said the truce would give pro-government fighters a chance to regroup.

Security officials and field commanders of forces allied with the coalition said 15 of their fighters were killed in two separate coalition airstrikes in the province of Lahj.

“The majority of the casualties are reported to have been caused by air strikes, but civilians are also regularly being injured and killed by mortar fire and in street fighting”, OHCHR Spokesperson Rupert Colville told reporters Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland.

“These were initial and immediate indications of the failure of the ceasefire”, the source said, but added that the Yemeni government considers the humanitarian truce ongoing despite the breach.

The soldiers battling in Sabr have been instruction since May in military camps in al-Buraiqeh, Aden’s port-city northwest authorities from the Saudi-led coalition explained.

The military advisers that were global, authorities said, arrived in “s-Buraiqeh by sea greater than a month ago and provide as intermediaries between the Yemeni troops as well as the coalition leadership in nearby Saudi Arabia”.