Abbo Hyder, AFP | This picture taken on October 24, 2018 shows fire near the wreckage of a car reportedly destroyed in an air strike in Yemen's Huthi-held Red Sea port of Hodeida.

Fighting has escalated around Yemen's key port city of Hodeida, with at least 150 combatants killed over the weekend from both the rebel and government-backed sides, officials said Sunday.

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Airstrikes and naval artillery pounded rebel positions around the Red Sea coastal city, where government backed-troops are launching a major ground assault to try to wrest it from dug-in rebels. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The rebels, known as Houthis, said they repelled the latest offensive on Hodeida, killing or wounding 215 troops, but did not provide a breakdown. They said they destroyed 20 armored vehicles over the past 24 hours.

Fierce fighting also erupted in the provinces of Bayda, to the south, and Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the north, they added.

The offensive came despite recent calls by the Trump administration for a cease-fire by late November.

Yemen has been at war since March 2015 when the Houthis occupied northern regions and forced the government into exile. Since then, a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition supporting the largely exiled government has blockaded the rebel-held north and waged a devastating air campaign, causing thousands of deaths. The U.S. has sold billions of dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and provides logistical and other support to the coalition.

The coalition accuses the Houthis of acting as Iran's proxy.

The war has led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Three-quarters of Yemen's people require life-saving assistance, according to the U.N. Population Fund. An estimated 10,000 people have been killed and more than 8 million are at risk of starvation from a looming famine.

The regional director of the U.N. children's agency, Geert Cappelaere, said the warring sides in Yemen make it difficult to deliver and distribute humanitarian aid to the country.

He said the situation is a "living hell" for all Yemeni children, singling out the death last week of 7-year-old Amal Hussein who had suffered from severe malnutrition.

"Unfortunately, Amal is not the only Yemeni child suffering that fate," he told a news conference in Amman, Jordan. "Thirty thousand children in Yemen die every single year of malnutrition as one of the most important underlying causes. There is not one Amal -- there are many thousands of Amals."

The Associated Press had photographed Amal -- whose name means "hope" in Arabic -- in August. A photograph of the emaciated child with a protruding rib cage and stick-like arms also appeared recently on the front page of The New York Times.

Medics say her death was the result of insufficient medical care as supplies dwindle and many people like Amal live far from treatment centers.

Mariam Ali, Amal's mother, told the AP on Sunday that she had been walking on foot under the rain for over an hour to reach a health center when her daughter died in the middle of the road last week.

"I collapsed and only woke up to find myself home surrounded by neighbors who wrapped me in a blanket while my husband took Amal away," Mariam said.

She has six children who have suffered bouts of vomiting and diarrhea but recovered, whereas while Amal was sick for four years before she passed away.

(AP)</s>CAIRO (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen said Friday it bombed an air base adjacent to the Sanaa international airport allegedly being used by the rebels to launch drone and…

CAIRO (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen said Friday it bombed an air base adjacent to the Sanaa international airport allegedly being used by the rebels to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks.

Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the coalition, said in TV comments that no flights or international aid efforts at the airport were affected by the airstrikes targeting the al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa. He did not elaborate.

Yemen’s rebel-run al-Masirah TV said more than 30 airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition targeted the air base and surrounding areas in the rebel-held capital.

Al-Malki said Saudi air defense forces on Friday shot down a missile launched by Yemeni rebels at the southern Saudi border city of Najran. The rocket was fired from the rebels’ stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen, he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, fighting in the Hodeida province has intensified in the past days, security officials said.

They said forces backed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition have been trying to retake the port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for food in a country teetering on the brink of famine.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The airstrikes in Sanaa came days after a U.S. call for an urgent halt to the Saudi-Iran proxy war in Yemen and the start of negotiations in November toward a political settlement of the conflict. The war has pushed millions to the brink of starvation in the Arab world’s poorest country.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday urged a cease-fire, specifically citing missile and drone strikes into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. He also said airstrikes by the Arab coalition, backed by the U.S., “must cease in all populated areas in Yemen.”

“The time is now for a cessation of hostilities,” Pompeo said. His plea came shortly after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke in unusual detail about diplomacy to end the crisis.

“Yemen has more problems than any people deserve to carry,” Mattis said.

The U.S. call comes nearly a month after the slaying of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi Consulate in Turkey causing international outrage against the Saudis. The killing prompted critics to urge an end to American arms sales to the kingdom and a reappraisal of U.S. military support for the Saudi-led Arab coalition that has been bombing Iranian-supported Houthi rebels, sometimes at the expense of killing civilians.

In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition unleased a full-scale military campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels who had captured most of Yemen including the capital, Sanaa, a few months earlier. The rebels pushed the internationally recognized government out of the country.

An estimated 10,000 people have been killed. The war has also left around two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid, and more than 8 million at risk of starvation.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is one of the worst in the world, with three quarters of the population requiring some form of life-saving assistance and protection, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The agency warned Thursday that the looming famine in war-torn Yemen could put 2 million mothers at risk of death.

UNFPA said lack of food, displacement, poor nutrition, disease outbreaks and eroding health care have dramatically affected the health and well-being of 1.1 million malnourished women who are pregnant or are breast-feeding their newborns.

The U.N. has made no progress in attempts to get the warring sides to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Associated Press writer Ahmed al-Haj contributed in this report from Sanaa.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.</s>CAIRO—Yemen’s rebels claim they halted advances of their adversaries, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition, at a key battlefield around a strategic Red Sea port city. Fighting continued around Hodeida on Tuesday despite the statement from the Shiite rebels, also known as Houthis, that a three-pronged coalition assault had been stopped around the city’s outskirts.

The Iran-backed Houthis said they lost at least 30 men and a dozen armoured vehicles. Dozens of fighters have been killed and hundreds wounded from both sides since a renewed coalition offensive on the city began five days ago, following calls by the Trump administration for a ceasefire by late November. The fighting has left dead bodies lying on the ground and inside burnt-out vehicles at the city’s edge, according to witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety. The witnesses also said several civilians have been killed by shelling in residential areas.

Other active fronts in Yemen include the provinces of Dhale and Bayda, to the south, and in the north in Hajjah and Saada, a Houthi stronghold. The Houthi statement also claimed the rebels stopped an attempted incursion by “mercenaries of the Saudi army,” into Yemen from Jizan, a region across the border in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier on Tuesday, the rebels detained two journalists in the capital, Sanaa, colleagues said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. One man was taken from his production company’s office, and another from his home, and both worked with foreign television news channels. The rebels detained another journalist in Sanaa earlier this month, and have held other over the course of the war, some for years. Meanwhile, the Norwegian Refugee Council said millions of Yemenis are edging closer to famine and fatal disease as the Saudi-led coalition’s blockade on sea, land and air routes in the Arab world’s poorest country continued. The coalition restricted access to Yemen in November last year, after a missile assault by rebels targeted the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Jan Egeland of the NRC said “the past 12 months have been a never-ending nightmare for Yemeni civilians.” The Saudi-led coalition, which seeks to restore to power the internationally recognized Yemeni government, has been at war with the Houthis since March 2015; the stalemated conflict has generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Hodeida, the main portal for humanitarian aid to the suffering population, has become the epicentre/>The United States has sold billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and provides logistical and other support to the coalition.</s>Yemen clashes rage as Saudi-led coalition says committed to peace

ADEN: Battles raged Monday near a Yemeni port crucial for humanitarian aid, but Saudi Arabia and its allies said they were committed to de-escalating hostilities with rebels as calls for a ceasefire mount.

The United Nations has appealed for urgent peace talks and warned that an assault on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida would threaten millions of lives.Yemeni government forces, backed by a regional military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, say they are now positioned around both the north and south of Hodeida, where clashes have left dozens dead.

The city and its port have been controlled by the Huthis — Iran-backed Shiite insurgents who hail from northern Yemen — since 2014 along with the capital Sanaa.Rebels and government sources both reported intense fighting in the area Monday, despite calls by the UN and the United States — which provides military support to the Saudi-led camp — for an end to the war. A source in the Saudi-led coalition told AFP the clashes were not “offensive operations”, adding that the alliance was “committed to keeping the Hodeida port open”.

But three officials with the Yemeni military said fighting continued to flare around Hodeida, whose port is the entry point for three quarters of the country’s imports.The head of the Huthis’ revolutionary council, Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, on Monday reported a “military escalation by the coalition,” slamming the operation as “a strenuous attempt to block talks aimed at ending the war and finding peace”.

Yemeni military officials said the coalition had sent fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters Monday morning to back up troops on the ground around Hodeida.The officials say government forces are trying to advance on the outskirts of Hodeida with the aim of surrounding the city and cutting off a major rebel supply route.

The coalition source however said the government alliance was “committed to de-escalating hostilities in Yemen and strongly supportive of the UN envoy’s political process”.

“If the Huthis fail to show up for peace talks again, this might lead (us) to restart the offensive operation in Hodeida,” the source said. “The humanitarian situation in Yemen is unacceptable. We are committed to ending the conflict as soon as possible,” they added.</s>SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Forces loyal to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels advanced on Monday to within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the port facilities in Yemen's contested Red Sea city of Hodeida, the current epicenter of the civil war, officials said.

Coalition aircraft and naval forces continue to pound rebel positions, and fighting has killed dozens of combatants from both sides, with dozens of military vehicles destroyed or burning along the front lines, they added.

Associated Press footage shows coalition forces on the main road to the capital, Sanaa, cutting off the highway and further encircling the rebels.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters, say other offensives have been launched elsewhere, including in the Dhale and Hajjah provinces. Fierce fighting also erupted a day earlier in the provinces of Bayda, to the south, and Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the north. They say a total of 580 people have been killed or wounded in Yemen since the coalition offensive began four days ago, without giving a breakdown.

The offensive came despite recent calls by the Trump administration for a cease-fire by late November.

The Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition has been at war with the Iran-aligned rebels since March 2015 in a stalemated conflict that has generated the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The U.S. has sold billions of dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and provides logistical and other support to the coalition.

The rebels say they have killed and wounded dozens of coalition troops, but did not provide a breakdown.

Both sides have reported several civilians killed in the latest fighting.

Save the Children's Yemen director, Tamer Kirolos, said the latest escalation could put tens of thousands of children in the line of fire around Hodeida and block essential aid deliveries. An estimated 70 percent of Yemen's food and humanitarian aid enters through Hodeida.

"The international community must increase diplomatic pressure and intensify efforts to secure an immediate halt to the offensive and a comprehensive ceasefire," he said in a statement, urging both sides to stop the fighting.</s>Battles raged Monday near a Yemeni port crucial for humanitarian aid, but Saudi Arabia and its allies said they were committed to de-escalating hostilities with rebels as calls for a ceasefire mount.

The United Nations has appealed for urgent peace talks and warned that an assault on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida would threaten millions of lives.

Yemeni government forces, backed by a regional military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, say they are now positioned around both the north and south of Hodeida, where clashes have left dozens dead.

The city and its port have been controlled by the Huthis -- Iran-backed Shiite insurgents who hail from northern Yemen -- since 2014 along with the capital Sanaa.

Rebels and government sources both reported intense fighting in the area Monday, despite calls by the UN and the United States -- which provides military support to the Saudi-led camp -- for an end to the war.

A source in the Saudi-led coalition told AFP the clashes were not "offensive operations", adding that the alliance was "committed to keeping the Hodeida port open".

But three officials with the Yemeni military said fighting continued to flare around Hodeida, whose port is the entry point for three quarters of the country's imports.

The head of the Huthis' revolutionary council, Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, on Monday reported a "military escalation by the coalition," slamming the operation as "a strenuous attempt to block talks aimed at ending the war and finding peace".

Yemeni military officials said the coalition had sent fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters Monday morning to back up troops on the ground around Hodeida.

The officials say government forces are trying to advance on the outskirts of Hodeida with the aim of surrounding the city and cutting off a major rebel supply route.

The coalition source however said the government alliance was "committed to de-escalating hostilities in Yemen and strongly supportive of the UN envoy's political process".

"If the Huthis fail to show up for peace talks again, this might lead (us) to restart the offensive operation in Hodeida," the source said.

"The humanitarian situation in Yemen is unacceptable. We are committed to ending the conflict as soon as possible.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths aims to bring the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and the Huthis to Sweden for talks in the coming month.

The Saudi-led alliance had suspended an offensive to take Hodeida in August, ahead of UN efforts to hold negotiations in Geneva that eventually collapsed the following month.

The Huthis refused to travel to Switzerland unless the United Nations guaranteed both their delegation's safe return to Sanaa and the evacuation of wounded fighters.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, which control aid deliveries to Hodeida through Yemen's seafront, accuse Iran of smuggling missiles to the Huthis through the port.

The rebels control northern Yemen and have regularly targeted Saudi Arabian border towns as well as the capital Riyadh with ballistic missiles.

Medics at two hospitals in Hodeida province said they had counted the bodies of a total of 74 rebels and dozens of wounded, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the press.

Sources at a military hospital in government-held Mokha, south of Hodeida, said 15 troops were killed over the same period.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the Yemen conflict in 2015 with the aim of bolstering President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the face of the Huthi insurgency.

The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10,000 people have been killed since then.

Human rights groups say the toll could be five times higher.

Fourteen million people now stand at the brink of famine in Yemen, which the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis and "a living hell" for children.</s>Battles raged Monday near a Yemeni port crucial for humanitarian aid, but Saudi Arabia and its allies said they were committed to de-escalating hostilities with rebels as calls for a ceasefire mount.

The United Nations has appealed for urgent peace talks and warned that an assault on the Red Sea port city of Hodeida would threaten millions of lives.

Yemeni government forces, backed by a regional military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, say they are now positioned around both the north and south of Hodeida, where clashes have left dozens dead.

The city and its port have been controlled by the Huthis -- Iran-backed Shiite insurgents who hail from northern Yemen -- since 2014 along with the capital Sanaa.

Rebels and government sources both reported intense fighting in the area Monday, despite calls by the UN and the United States -- which provides military support to the Saudi-led camp -- for an end to the war.

A source in the Saudi-led coalition told AFP the clashes were not "offensive operations", adding that the alliance was "committed to keeping the Hodeida port open".

But three officials with the Yemeni military said fighting continued to flare around Hodeida, whose port is the entry point for three quarters of the country's imports.

The head of the Huthis' revolutionary council, Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, on Monday reported a "military escalation by the coalition," slamming the operation as "a strenuous attempt to block talks aimed at ending the war and finding peace".

Yemeni military officials said the coalition had sent fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters Monday morning to back up troops on the ground around Hodeida.

The officials say government forces are trying to advance on the outskirts of Hodeida with the aim of surrounding the city and cutting off a major rebel supply route.

The coalition source however said the government alliance was "committed to de-escalating hostilities in Yemen and strongly supportive of the UN envoy's political process".

"If the Huthis fail to show up for peace talks again, this might lead (us) to restart the offensive operation in Hodeida," the source said.

"The humanitarian situation in Yemen is unacceptable. We are committed to ending the conflict as soon as possible," they added.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths aims to bring the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and the Huthis to Sweden for talks this month.

The charity Save the Children said on Monday that the fighting in Hodeida was "deeply concerning" ahead of plans for peace talks, calling for an immediate ceasefire "so more lives aren't lost".

"This serious escalation around Yemen's most important port city could put tens of thousands of children in the line of fire and further choke delivery of food and medicine," said Tamer Kirolos, the organisation's Yemen director.

"Save the Children staff in Hodeida reported almost 100 air strikes over the weekend, five times as many as in the whole first week of October," he said.

The charity estimates an average of 100 Yemeni children die each day from extreme hunger or disease.

The Saudi-led alliance had suspended an offensive to take Hodeida in August, ahead of UN efforts to hold negotiations in Geneva which collapsed the following month.

The Huthis refused to travel to Switzerland unless the UN guaranteed both their delegation's safe return to Sanaa and the evacuation of wounded fighters.

The rebels have regularly targeted Saudi Arabian border towns as well as the capital Riyadh with ballistic missiles.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Iran of using Hodeida port to smuggle missiles to the Huthis, a charge Tehran denies.

Medics at two hospitals in Hodeida province, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they have counted the bodies of 74 rebels since Sunday and that dozens were wounded.

Sources at a military hospital in government-held Mokha, south of Hodeida, said 15 troops were killed over the same period.

Saudi Arabia's state media has reported the deaths of at least six soldiers "along the southern border" in the past week, without giving further details.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday visited wounded soldiers being treated in a hospital in Riyadh, state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

It released pictures showing Prince Mohammed, whose image as a reformer has been tarnished after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, taking selfies with the troops and hugging them.

Khashoggi -- a Washington Post contributor who was critical of Prince Mohammed and the country's intervention in Yemen -- was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Saudi Arabia has faced virulent international criticism for leading an intervention in Yemen in 2015 to bolster Hadi's government in the face of the Huthi insurgency, and Khashoggi's murder has put its bombing campaign under fresh scrutiny.

The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10,000 people have been killed since then, although rights groups say the toll could be five times higher.

Fourteen million people now stand at the brink of famine in Yemen, which the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis and "a living hell" for children.</s>Fighting in Yemen’s grueling civil war ground on Tuesday, with Houthi rebels saying they halted the advances of their adversaries, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition seeking to oust them from power.

Combat continued around the key port city of Hodeida, where the Iran-backed Shiite rebels said in an overnight statement that a three-pronged coalition assault had been stopped with heavy fighting around the city’s outskirts, acknowledging that they had lost at least 30 men and a dozen armored vehicles.

Dozens of fighters have been killed and hundreds wounded from both sides since the coalition offensive on the city began five days ago, following calls by the Trump administration for a cease-fire by late November. Witnesses have reported dead bodies littering the ground and left inside burnt-out vehicles at the city’s edge.

Local media reported that air raids by the coalition were continuing, as was sporadic fighting around Hodeida, especially along 50th street and the 7th of July neighborhoods in the east. Other fronts include the provinces of Dhale and Bayda, to the south, and in the north in Hajjah and Saada, a Houthi stronghold.

The Houthis said in their statement they had also stopped an attempted incursion by “mercenaries of the Saudi army,” into Yemen from Jizan, across the border in Saudi Arabia.

Witnesses say several civilians have been killed by shelling in residential areas.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian Refugee Council said millions of Yemenis are edging closer to famine and fatal disease as the Saudi-led coalition’s blockade on sea, land and air routes in the Arab world’s poorest country continued.

The coalition restricted access to Yemen in November last year after a missile assault by rebels targeted the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Jan Egeland of the NRC said “the past 12 months have been a never-ending nightmare for Yemeni civilians.”

The Saudi-led coalition, which backs the internationally recognized Yemeni government, has been at war with the Houthi rebels since March 2015 in a stalemated conflict that has generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Hodeida, the main portal for humanitarian aid to the suffering population, has become the epicenter of the conflict.

The U.S. has sold billions of dollars’ worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and provides logistical and other support to the coalition.</s>Fighting in Yemen's grueling civil war ground on Tuesday, with Houthi rebels saying they halted the advances of their adversaries, the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led Arab coalition seeking to oust them from power. Combat continued around the key port city of Hodeida, where the Iran-backed Shiite rebels said in an overnight statement that a three-pronged coalition assault had been stopped with heavy fighting around the city's outskirts, acknowledging that they had lost at least 30 men and a dozen armored vehicles.

Yemen has been wracked by conflict since 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the former defense minister, and Saudi Arabia's allies launched Operation Decisive Storm in March 2015. Riyadh has accused the Houthi rebel group of serving as a proxy force for Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch foe in the region. Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, which has killed over 10,000 people and sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

In September, the Saudi-led coalition admitted that mistakes were made in an August airstrike that killed 40 children, an event considered an apparent war crime by the U.N. human rights body. The U.S. has made a call to end the war, but there was no reference to the future of its arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The U.N. has made no progress in attempts to get the warring sides to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.</s>ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition inched closer to the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Sunday as they battled Iranian-aligned Houthi fighters entrenched there, local military sources and residents said on Sunday.

The coalition has deployed thousands of troops to retake Hodeidah, a vital entry point for imports and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis after more than three years of war.

Fighting was focused around the airport, which the coalition failed to seize in a previous offensive, and also at the eastern entrance to the city and near a university that lies 4 km south of the port, which handles most of Yemen’s imports.

“This is the first time clashes have reached this point (the university),” one pro-coalition Yemeni military source said.

Residents said they could hear exchanges of fire in the area.

The alliance, which relies on Western arms and intelligence, faces a challenge to seize the heavily-defended city without causing heavy casualties at time of increasing global scrutiny over the war that has killed more than 10,000 people.

The United States and Britain have called for an end to the conflict, raising pressure on Saudi Arabia as it faces a global outcry over the murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. [nnL8N1XB3YF]

U.N. refugee agency UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie said the international community had been “shamefully slow” and urged the U.N. Security Council to find a negotiated end to the war.

“We have watched the situation deteriorate to the point that Yemen is now on the brink of man-made famine, and facing the worst cholera epidemic in the world in decades,” the U.S. actress said in a statement on Sunday.

Her statement repeated a U.N. warning that half the population of Yemen — some 14 million people — could soon be on the brink of famine.

The alliance of Sunni Muslim states led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in Yemen in 2015 to oust the Houthis and restore the internationally recognized government. The conflict is seen as a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran.

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi say wresting control of Hodeidah would deliver a blow to the Houthis, who still control the most populated areas of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, by cutting their main supply line and force them to the negotiating table.

A previous attempt to take the city in June ran into difficulties and was halted ahead of U.N.-led peace consultations in Geneva which collapsed in September after the Houthis failed to show up.

U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths said last week he hoped consultations could restart within a month. He is preparing to visit Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city and a flashpoint since the Houthis drove the government out of Sanaa in 2014, according to sources close to the U.N. talks.
Days of heavy fighting between Houthi and Saudi-led coalition forces around the port city of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, leave at least 150 people dead.