Fighting intensifies

Fighting has escalated around Yemen’s key port city of Hodeida, with more than 150 combatants killed over the weekend from both the rebel and government-backed sides, officials said yesterday. Airstrikes and naval artillery pounded rebel positions around the Red Sea coastal city, where government backedtroops are launching a major ground assault to try to wrest it from dug-in rebels. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The rebels, known as Houthis, said they repelled the latest offensive on Hodeida, killing or wounding 215 troops, but did not provide a breakdown. They said they destroyed 20 armoured vehicles over the past 24 hours. Fierce fighting also erupted in the provinces of Bayda, to the south, and Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the north, they added. The offensive came despite recent calls by the Trump administration for a cease-fire by late November.