Officials Say Yemeni Rebels Thwart Advance in Embattled Aden

Yemeni ministers have arrived back in Aden after the government announced it had “liberated” the port city from rebel control, the interior ministry told AFP on Saturday.

Aden for several months has been the scene of violent clashes between pro-Hadi fighters on the one hand and the Houthis and Saleh’s followers on the other.

Aden has been a focus of fighting since the Iranian-allied Houthis first laid siege to it in March when it was the last bastion to the government which then fled to Saudi Arabia.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) – Medical officials say Shiite rebels and their allies randomly have bombed an area north of the southern city of Aden, killing at least 45 people.

A military official at Defense Ministry has denied what have been published on Saudi aggression media about making progress by al-Qaeda elements and foreign invaders in Aden city.

Around 15 air strikes targeted rebel positions in Al-Tawahi and on the northern outskirts of the city where rebels had brought reinforcements, military sources and witnesses said.

Swathes of the city have been reduced to rubble by the four months of ferocious fighting.

Forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, backed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, launched a major offensive to drive the Iran-backed Houthi rebels out of Aden earlier this week.

Witnesses said the rebels remained in control of the city s Al-Tawahi district on Saturday and that heavy fighting was continuing there.

“Most parts of the city are secure”, he said, adding that the government is working on securing remaining districts.

Southern militiamen of the Popular Resistance launched Operation Golden Arrow against the rebels on Tuesday, boosted by reinforcements freshly trained and equipped in Saudi Arabia.

“There is no life! If it was not for the two wells of the neighbourhood, people would have died of thirst”, said Crater resident Moatez al-Mayssuri.

Fighters against Shiite rebels known as Houthis gather in front of…

The United Nations has declared Yemen a level-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale.

After weeks of shuttle diplomacy between the two sides, it announced a humanitarian truce last weekend to allow the delivery of desperately needed relief supplies, but the ceasefire failed to take hold.

More than 80 per cent of Yemen’s population – 21 million people – are in need of aid, with 13 million facing food shortages.