AP, Sanaa :
A drastic escalation in fighting between the Saudi-led military coalition and Houthi rebels in Yemen has killed and wounded hundreds of people over the past week, officials and tribal leaders said Monday.
The U.S.-backed Arab coalition battling to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government stepped up airstrikes on rebel targets northeast of the capital, Sanaa, following a monthslong lull, while Houthis shelled government-held areas.
The sudden spike in violence across long-stalemated front lines threatened to exacerbate the five-year conflict and complicate indirect peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed rebels. The U.N. Security Council called emergency consultations for Tuesday morning at Britain’s request on the latest developments. Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Karen Pierce, said the council would receive a closed-door video briefing from the U.N. envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths.
The warring factions have concentrated their forces in three main areas: Nehm, a half-hour drive from the capital; Jawf, a mountainous northern district; and Marib, a western province that saw one of the deadliest rebel attacks earlier this month. Fighting this week was the most intense those provinces had seen in three years, according to observers.
A wave of over 40 coalition airstrikes hit rebel targets, destroying many of their tanks and armored vehicles, Houthi officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Despite heavy losses on both sides, the Houthis are gaining ground, officials said. Rebels seized a key supply line linking Marib with Jawf and were approaching the capital of the northwestern province. Artillery shelling in the district killed three civilians Monday.
Throughout the day, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi deliberated with military chiefs and local governors. He stressed the need to “upgrade military institutions to the highest level of training, armament and vigilance,” according to a government statement. Yemeni military setbacks have drawn recent complaints that the army lacks the technically advanced weaponry propelling Houthi advances. Fighting also flared up Monday in the large government-controlled city of Taiz, where a mortar shell fired by Houthis struck a busy market, killing three civilians and wounding 10. Meanwhile, heavy clashes in the central province of Bayda killed 13 fighters on both sides.
Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed vowed that government forces would “harshly confront” Houthi militias, which he accused of trying to “prolong the war and relieve the pressure and international isolation of Iran.”
The Houthi offensives signal “their explicit rejection of peace efforts,” he said.
For months, back-channel negotiations in Oman between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis stirred modest hopes for reconciliation. But sharply escalating violence has put the political process on shaky ground.
