57 killed as fight rages in Yemen

At least 57 people have been killed as Yemeni pro-government forces gained ground around third city Taez which has been under rebel siege for several months, officials said.

The loyalists backed by warplanes of a Saudi-led military coalition took back areas in the western and southern suburbs of the city, said governor Ali al-Maamari.

They “reopened key roads that the Huthis (Iran-backed Shia rebels) had been blocking for nine months,” said the governor, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia.

That should allow for humanitarian and medical aid to reach about 200,000 besieged inhabitants, he said.

Loyalist military sources said clashes between pro-government forces and airstrikes had killed at least 57 people yesterday, 37 of them rebels, six civilians and the rest loyalist fighters.

Earlier a source in the army’s 35th brigade confirmed that loyalists had seized Al-Misrakh area to the south of Taez city after heavy fighting that led to several deaths in the past few days.

Dozens of military vehicles carried rebel fighters out of the western suburb of Taez towards the city of Hodeida on the Red Sea, witnesses said.