Violent clashes break out in Yemen between rebels and pro-government forces, nearly 70 killed

At least 66 people have been killed in the last 24 hours in violent clashes in Yemen, medics and security sources have said, as pro-government forces are pushing to oust rebels from a key stretch of the coastline.

In air strikes launched by a Saudi-led coalition and fighting near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, at least 52 fighters among Shiite Huthi rebels and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh were killed, according to sources.

14 members of the pro-government forces also lost their lives.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi launched a major offensive on January 7 to retake the Dhubab district overlooking the Bab al-Mandab, which is a key maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Coalition warplanes and Apache attack helicopters have been attacking rebels in support of pro-Hadi forces advancing towards the Red Sea city of Mokha, if military sources are to be believed.

So far, loyalist forces are within 10 kilometres (six miles) of Mokha, they said, but the offensive has been slowed by mines laid by rebels.

The rebels took those dead among them to a military hospital in Hodeida, a major western



port city they control, a medical source said.

The hospital received 14 dead on Saturday and 38 on Sunday, as well as 55 wounded rebels, the source added.

Among those pro-government, 14 soldiers were killed and 22 others injured, according to medics in the southern port city of Aden where Hadi's government is based.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 in support of the beleaguered president.

But despite its vastly superior firepower, rebels and their allies still control the capital Sanaa and much of the central and northern highlands, as well as the 450-kilometre (280-mile) Red Sea coast.

United Nations peace envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed reached Sanaa on Sunday for talks and to push a peace plan that would restore a ceasefire and lead to a political transition in the country.

Also read | Saudi led-air strike kills 82 in Yemen

The plan would lead to a political transition that would significantly reduce Hadi's powers.

The World Health Organization says that more than 7,400 people have been killed since the coalition intervention began.

A UN spokesman has said the civilian death toll alone could go as high as 10,000.