Aden // Seven Yemeni soldiers and eight rebels were killed in heavy fighting over the weekend near the Red Sea coastal town of Mokha.
The historic port was captured by government forces on February 10 as part of a major offensive launched in January to try to recapture Yemen’s 450 kilometre Red Sea coastline, which had previously been almost entirely in rebel hands.
But there have been repeated clashes over the past month both inland and north of the town as the Iran-backed rebels seek to take it back.
The latest fighting focused on the village of Yakhtul, 14 kilometres north of Mokha, which is currently in government hands, medical and security sources said Saturday.
It came after the Houthis claimed an air strike on Friday by the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government killed 20 civilians and six rebels.
The strike on the town of Khokha targeted rebel fighters who had taken refuge at the entrance to a market selling the narcotic qat.
The same day two sailors were killed when a Yemeni coast guard vessel hit a naval mine suspected of being planted in the Red Sea by the rebels. The explosion also wounded eight others, including the ship’s captain, security officials said.
The Saudi-led coalition had previously warned of the dangers to international shipping of naval mines planted by the Houthi militants in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The fighting around Mokha has driven more than 48,000 people from their homes, the Yemen spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, Shabia Mantoo, said earlier this month.
*Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
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What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
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