Clashes, air raids in southern Yemen kill over 90

At least 92 people have been killed in Saudi-led coalition air strikes and fighting between supporters of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his opponents in southern Yemen, sources said Saturday.

In the key port city of Aden and in the adjacent Lahj province alone, 46 rebels died in ongoing clashes and 12 hours of intense airstrikes that lasted until early Saturday, a military source close to them said.

A medic in Aden said that eight pro-Hadi militiamen were killed. Government officials earlier gave a toll of 38 killed in clashes across other southern towns.

The Houthi rebels, who have overrun large parts of the country and forced Hadi to flee overseas, have demanded a complete end to a month of Saudi-led air strikes against them as a condition for UN-sponsored talks.

Former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, who still holds sway over army units allied with the Shiite rebels, late on Friday urged the Houthis to heed UN demands to withdraw from territory they have seized.

US Secretary of State John Kerry also called on the anti-government forces to enter into political dialogue to end a conflict that the UN says has killed more than 1,000 people since late March.

“This has to be a two-way street,” Kerry told reporters, adding: “We need the Houthi and we need those that can influence them to make sure that they are prepared to try to move… to the negotiating table.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced plans to appoint Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as his new envoy to Yemen.

The appointment becomes official on Monday if no objections are raised by the 15-member council.

The fighting has raised fears that Yemen could become a new front in a proxy war between Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies and Shiite Iran.

Tehran rejects accusations it armed the rebels and has presented a peace plan to the UN calling for a ceasefire and the formation of a unity government.

A US aircraft carrier headed to Yemeni waters earlier this week to monitor an Iranian convoy that had raised suspicions but redeployed on Friday after the convoy turned back, Pentagon officials said.

At least seven Hadi loyalists and 22 Houthis were killed in dawn fighting Saturday in the town of Daleh, north of key southern city Aden, an official said.

Farther east, in Loder, loyalist militiamen killed nine rebels in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, a government official in the town said.

There were also heavy clashes in Aden and in third city Taez.

The coalition has kept up air strikes days after announcing its campaign was entering a new phase aimed at resuming the political process, delivering aid and fighting “terrorism.”

Targets included the rebel-held presidential palace in Aden, which was Hadi’s last refuge before he fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia last month, military officials said.

Coalition warplanes also bombed the rebel-held Al-Anad air base north of Aden, which housed US troops supporting a long-running drone war against Al-Qaeda before the fighting forced their withdrawal.

Witnesses reported an air raid targeting a rebel position in eastern Taez.

There was also fighting late on Friday in the eastern province of Marib, home to some of Yemen’s most important oil fields, army officers and witnesses said.

Loyalist troops shelled rebel positions in the Sarwah district, where clashes raged around Yemen’s main oil export pipeline.

The 435-kilometer (270-mile) line links Marib’s Safir oil fields with the Ras Isa terminal on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and control of it has been a key goal for the rebels and their allies.

The UN says millions have been affected by the conflict and are struggling to access healthcare, water, food and fuel.

It estimates that at least 551 of those killed since late March were civilians and included at least 115 children.

Amnesty International called for an urgent investigation into the civilian deaths.

“Some of the Saudi Arabian-led air strikes appear to have failed to take necessary precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects,” said its MENA deputy head, Said Boumedouha.

“It is crucial that independent and impartial investigations are carried out to ascertain whether violations of international humanitarian law have been committed.”

And Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was “extremely worried by the decline in the political and security situation in Yemen” with attacks from both sides of the conflict at media personnel.

Four employees working for Saleh’s Yemen Today television, including a presenter, were killed in Monday coalition raids on Sanaa, it said.