ADEN // At least 43 people were killed in heavy fighting in Yemen on Wednesday between supporters of exiled president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and the Houthi rebels, residents said.
It comes as three suspected Al Qaeda members were reportedly killed in a US drone strike in the militant-held southeastern port city of Mukalla.
The drone “fired four missiles at three Al Qaeda militants” near Mukalla port on Tuesday, killing them on the spot, a local official said on Wednesday. A leading figure within Al Qaeda was among the dead, he said.
Saudi Arabia has led a coalition in carrying out airstrikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and allied troops of ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since late March in a bid to restore power back to Mr Hadi.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has exploited the months of fighting to consolidate its grip on Hadramawt’s provincial capital Mukalla, a city of more than 200,000.
The US considers AQAP the group’s deadliest global franchise. Washington regularly targets Al Qaeda militants with armed drone strikes on Yemeni territory and is the only government that operates the unmanned aircraft over the country.
Residents said fighters opposed to the Houthis advanced from a district of Aden known as “workers’ island” towards the port city’s Houthi-held international airport. They said five local fighters and 11 Houthis died in those clashes.
Eight fighters from an anti-Houthi force called the Southern Resistance were also wounded, they said.
Residents said warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition flew sorties overnight against Houthi outposts in the Bir Ahmed area north of Aden, killing 12 members of the Zaydi Shiite Muslim group.
The coalition, which includes the UAE, also struck Houthi fighters in the oil-producing Marib province and killed 10 Houthis, tribal sources said.
In the central city of Taez, five civilians were killed when they were caught in the middle of fighting between the Houthis and local resistance fighters aligned with Mr Hadi, according to medical sources.
The clashes came ahead of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva next week aimed at ending the conflict which has killed than 2,000 people since March. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting.
Representatives of Mr Hadi’s government are scheduled to begin talks in Geneva with representatives of the Houthi group and Mr Saleh’s General People’s Congress party on Sunday, amid reports of disagreements about the agenda.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, spokesman for the Houthi group, said on Tuesday that their representation at the conference was still under discussion and had not been finalised.
Iran and the Houthis deny having any military or economic links. The Houthis say their seizure of the capital Sanaa in September and their advance south is part of a “revolution” against a corrupt government.
Humanitarian conditions have deteriorated sharply, with shortages of fresh produce, poultry, flour, fuel and other basic needs. Residents also complain that uncollected garbage, rotting under sizzling temperatures of nearly 50ºC in Aden, has caused the spread of diseases such as dengue fever and malaria.
Some report dozens of deaths among the Houthis, who come from a highland region of Yemen and are unaccustomed to high temperatures, but the reports could not be immediately be verified by medical experts.
* Agence France-Presse and Reuters
