UN’s Yemen envoy in Sanaa as 32 rebels killed

ADEN: Fresh clashes and air strikes around the Yemeni city of Hodeida have killed 32 rebels, hospital and medical sources said Sunday, as the UN envoy kept up peace efforts in Sanaa.

A military source told AFP the Saudi-led coalition fighting alongside the Yemeni government against Shiite Huthi rebels carried out an air raid on a radio station tower in the port city of Hodeida. Three people died in Sunday’s raid, he said, while Huthi-run Al-Masirah television said four people were killed, three security guards and a station employee. According to medical sources in Hodeida province, which is controlled by the Huthis, at least 32 insurgents have been killed and 14 others wounded in clashes and air strikes since Saturday. The coalition accuses the Tehran-aligned Huthis of smuggling arms from Iran through Hodeida and has imposed a partial blockade on the port, which the rebels seized in 2014. In June, pro-government forces launched a major operation to retake both the city and its port, the entry point of most of the impoverished country’s imports and aid. The troops, backed by coalition air strikes, have retaken a number of towns across Hodeida province but have not yet breached the city. The coalition in July announced a temporary ceasefire in Hodeida to give a chance to UN-brokered peace talks.

The UN’s Yemen envoy, Martin Griffiths, arrived Sunday in the rebel-held capital Sanaa, without making any statement to the media. Griffiths is pushing for new peace talks after a failed attempt to bring the two sides together in Geneva earlier this month.