Yemen officials say rebels trading fire with coalition ships

According to Reuters, as part of its campaign to defeat the Houthis and restore Hadi’s control, Saudi-led naval forces have imposed a near-blockade in the waters near Yemen, to prevent weapons from reaching the rebels.

The Saudi-led coalition, which includes nine Arab states and U.S. military support, began airstrikes in Yemen in March, after Houthi rebels staged a coup the capital, Sana’a and forced the president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, to flee.

Fighters against Shiite rebels prepare to leave Aden, Yemen, for the strait of Bab al-Mandab, west of the southern port city, to take back the control of the strait, while gathering on a road on Thursday.

The warships have, in addition to stopping food shipments, been used to attack Houthi positions along the coast elsewhere, and to support the pro-Saudi fighters.

The spokesman for the coalition, Brig Gen Ahmed Al Assiri, denied the allegation, saying: “The coalition did not conduct any air strikes in the area over the past three days”.

According to a report by the Lebanese al-Mayadeen news network on Saturday, an unnamed Yemeni official said that the Hadi loyalists had only reached the Khor Omaira area and not the strategic strait.

The Houthis have acknowledged that they lost the strategic strait.

At least 38 people have been killed, including eight children, and dozens more injured as a result of a suspected coalition airstrike at a wedding hall in southwest Yemen.

Around 100 Saudi soldiers and security personnel and a few 30 civilians have also been killed in cross-border fire into southern Saudi Arabia by Houthis and allied troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

He said Iran has tried several times to help settle the crisis in Yemen and gather all Yemenis together for peace talks, but the efforts have failed because “one side has refrained” from resuming the political talks and the war on people of Yemen has gone on.

Meanwhile, a European-backed resolution calling for a United Nations investigation into rights abuses committed during the conflict was withdrawn this week. The Dutch-drafted United Nations rights council proposal had called for a full inquiry into violations in Yemen since September previous year.