AP, Sanaa :Fierce fighting and airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition pounded northern Yemen on Saturday, as the two main parties in the country’s conflict continued to violate a ceasefire agreement and undermine already tenuous peace talks in Switzerland.The clashes in Hajjah Province near the Saudi border between rebel-allied units and pro-government Yemeni forces have killed more than 75 over the past three days, Yemeni security officials and witnesses said. The dead included more than 40 rebels and 35 government troops, with 50 wounded on the rebel side and dozens wounded on the government side. Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed, according to the witnesses and security officials, who remain neutral in the conflict that has splintered the Arab world’s poorest country.The government troops advanced across the border from Saudi territory after training there for months, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters.Yemen’s fighting pits the internationally recognized government backed by a Saudi-led, U.S.-supported coalition against the rebels, known as Houthis, who are allied with a former president and backed by Iran. Local affiliates of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have exploited the chaos to grab land and exercise influence.According to U.N. figures, the war in Yemen has killed at least 5,884 people since March, when fighting escalated after the Saudi-led coalition began launching airstrikes targeting the rebels.Fighting in Yemen has continued despite a weeklong cease-fire agreement that went into effect on Tuesday. By Wednesday, at least 42 people had been killed in clashes along several front lines, underscoring the difficulties of achieving progress at the U.N.-brokered peace talks in the Swiss village of Macolin.Meanwhile, Yemeni negotiators at U.N.-sponsored peace talks agreed on Saturday to form a committee to oversee a fragile ceasefire but the day ended without further progress being amid strong mutual distrust, sources close to the talks told Reuters. Fresh fighting in Yemen also threatened the peace talks, which end on Sunday, their sixth day. The eight-month conflict in impoverished Yemen has killed thousands of people and caused a major humanitarian crisis.The ceasefire committee will be headed by a Lebanese army general and consist of representatives from the Saudi-backed government of Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and from the rival Houthi movement, which is allied to Iran.But after the apparent breakthrough on the committee, Saturday’s round of talks did not yield more results.Face-to-face talks between Hadi’s government and the Houthi group have not occurred since Wednesday evening after the Houthis rejected demands for the release of detained senior officials, including Yemen’s defense minister and Hadi’s brother, said sources close to the talks.
