Clashes, strikes kill 21 in Yemen’s Aden

Saudi-led air strikes and clashes in Yemen’s second city of Aden killed 13 Shiite Houthi militia and eight pro-government fighters Friday, military sources said.

War planes struck Houthi positions in the north of the port city, killing six fighters, after fighting killed seven rebels and eight soldiers loyal to exiled President Abedrabbu Mansour Hadi, the sources said.

The clashes followed Houthi advances in west Aden, backed by renegade troops that saw the militia take control of a military base late Thursday.

Fighting continued Friday around the base, according to military sources.

Rebel shelling of several residential neighborhoods overnight killed at least five people, including a child, city health chief Al-Khader Laswar told AFP.

Another 89 civilians were wounded.

In neighboring Abyan province, five rebels were killed in an ambush and a further eight were killed in a similar incident in Taez, Yemen’s third city, according to witnesses.

War planes struck several Houthi positions in their northern stronghold province of Saada, witnesses said, as well as the residence of a senior Houthi official in Sanaa.

The jets also struck Houthis in the northern Hajja province, which borders Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against militia in Yemen in March, after the Houthis seized control of much of the country and encroached on Aden, where Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing to Riyadh.

Peace talks last month in Geneva between representatives of the exiled government and the Houthis failed to settle the deadlock.

More than 2,600 people have been killed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country since March, according to U.N. figures.