44 dead in Yemen as bombing intensifies, fighting spreads to Taiz

Clashes between Houthi fighters and pro-government forces in Yemen and Saudi-led air strikes killed 44 people, medics and local sources said Sunday, as Riyadh pledged to cover a UN humanitarian aid appeal.

The UN says hundreds of people have died and thousands of families fled their homes since the air war was launched on 26 March at the request of embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Ten Houthi fighters and four members of the "popular committees" militia fighting on the side of Hadi were killed in pre-dawn clashes in the southwestern city of Taiz, residents there told MEE.

Taiz, a hub of mass anti-government protests against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011, has become the scene of fierce clashes over the past week, after having been largely spared in fighting that has spread across several Yemeni provinces.

Sadeq al-Maktary, an activist told MEE by phone on Sunday that explosions and gunfire had rocked the city for hours after coalition aircraft hit the city's presidential palace.

"The fighting is spreading from neighborhood to neighborhood. There are bodies in the street," said Maktary. In addition to the presidential palace, Maktary said the coalition airstrikes had hit a republican guard base and an athletics stadium.

"Yemen is full of weapons. I'm worried about civil war," said Maktary.

To the east of the capital Sanaa, columns of smoke rose over an arms depot targeted by warplanes, witnesses said.

The facility belonged to the elite Republican Guard, which remains loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Renegade troops loyal to Saleh are allied with the Houthis, whose sweeping advance forced President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh last month.

The United Nations says hundreds of people have died and thousands of families have fled their homes in the war, which has also killed six Saudi security personnel in border skirmishes.

Saudi-led strikes have allegedly led to the death of 40 refugees at an IDP camp, 33 employees at a dairy factory, nine family members in a village, and three children at a school.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate ceasefire on Friday and began the hunt for a new peace envoy to the  country, where Al-Qaeda is expanding its territory.

Yemen "is in flames," he said on Thursday, calling for an "immediate ceasefire in Yemen by all parties".

His remarks followed the resignation of his envoy Jamal Benomar, who had lost the confidence of Saudi Arabia and its allies. They accused him of being duped by the rebels.

The Moroccan diplomat had been instrumental in negotiating a deal that eased Saleh from office in February 2012 after a year of protests against his three-decades rule.

Fighting damages hospital

Unidentified militia fired on a hospital in southern Yemen that pro-Houthi soldiers had surrounded, in violation of the laws of war, New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

Yemeni army forces fighting on behalf of the Houthis surrounded the hospital, in the southern city of Lahej, shutting off the hospital lights, deploying snipers, and stationing a tank at the hospital entrance. Opposing gunmen then carried out attacks beginning on Monday that repeatedly struck the hospital and put medical personnel at grave risk.

The incident is the latest indication that the Houthis are turning to guerilla tactics, analysts say, making them harder to target while increasing the risk of civilians being caught up in the bombing campaign.

As of 14 April, the fighting in Yemen, including airstrikes by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, had killed at least 364 civilians, including at least 84 children, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

While Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington offered an upbeat assessment this week of the air campaign in Yemen, calling it “very, very successful,” civilians living under bombardment for more than three weeks expressed terror and despair in messages posted online.