150+ slain in Yemen

Fighting has escalated around Yemen’s key port city of Hodeida, with more than 150 combatants killed over the weekend on both the rebel and governmentbacked sides, officials said Sunday.

Airstrikes and naval artillery pounded rebel positions around the Red Sea city, where government-supported troops are launching a major ground assault in an attempt to wrest it from dug-in rebels.

The rebels, known as Houthis, later said in a statement that they repelled the latest offensive on Hodeida, killing or wounding 215 troops and destroying 20 armored 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, the officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Yemen has been at war since March 2015, when the Houthis occupied northern regions and forced the government into exile. Since then, a Saudi-led, US-backed coalition supporting the largely exiled government has blockaded the rebel-held north and waged a devastating air campaign.

The coalition accuses the Houthis of acting as Iran’s proxy.

The war has led to a humanitarian crisis that is one of the worst in the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund. An estimated 10,000 people have been killed