Yemen factions’ battles rage as Iran fleet sails away from area

ADEN, Yemen — Fighting between Yemen’s warring factions raged in southern and central parts of the country and airstrikes hit Houthi militia forces in Aden on Friday, but there were no fresh moves toward dialogue.

Saudi Arabia says it is winding down its month-old bombing operation against the Iran-allied Houthis and forces loyal to Yemen’s former president. But Riyadh pounded targets with at least 20 airstrikes across Yemen on Thursday and 10 more on Friday.

The civilian death toll from the fighting and airstrikes since the bombing started on March 26 has reached an estimated 551 people, the United Nations said on Friday. Its children’s agency, UNICEF, said at least 115 children were among the dead.

Washington and other Western countries backing the Saudi-led aerial campaign have grown increasingly worried about the humanitarian crisis on the ground and also about the risk of Sunni Muslim jihadist groups taking advantage of the chaos.

Meanwhile, a flotilla of nine Iranian military and cargo ships that U.S. officials feared was carrying arms to strife-torn Yemen sailed northeast in the direction of Iran on Friday, a move the Pentagon said helped to ease U.S. concerns.

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the flotilla was in international waters about midway along the coast of Oman on Friday and still headed northeast.

He declined to say the ships were going back to Iran or headed toward Iran. Warren said the U.S. military did not know their intent and the vessels could turn around at any point.

But Warren did say the shift had helped to ease Washington’s concerns.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday the U.S. government had warned Iran not to send weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the Gulf.