More than 150 killed in weekend violence around Yemen port city

Fighting escalated around Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, and more than

150 combatants were killed over the weekend.

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

Fierce fighting erupted in the provinces of Bayda to the south and Saada, a Houthi stronghold in the north.

Yemen has been at war since March

2015 when the rebels, known as Houthis, occupied northern regions and forced the government into exile.