ADEN: Thirteen rebels were killed as air raids by the Saudi-led Arab coalition struck their positions on the coast of western Yemen today, military and medical officials said. Warplanes and Apache helicopters took part in the raids that targeted rebel positions in Taif and Nakhliya, 10 kilometres (six miles) south of the Red Sea city of Hodeida, a military official said.
Medical officials said 13 rebels were killed in the strikes. The raids destroyed five fishing boats allegedly used by the Shiite Huthi rebels to deliver arms to the isle of Tarfa, around five kilometres offshore, the military official said.
The warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition, which intervened in 2015 in support of the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, target rebel positions regularly. The government has said Hodeida is its next target in a military campaign to push rebels out of the lengthy Red Sea coast, mainly to stop arms smuggling to the insurgents.
The coalition called last month on the United Nation to place the port under its supervision, shortly after more than 40 Somali refugees were shot dead on board a boat off Hodeida. The UN urged warring parties yesterday to "ensure the continued functioning" of the port because it remains the main point of entry for humanitarian aid.
More than 7,700 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed in Yemen's war since the March 2015 military intervention of the coalition, the World Heath Organization says. The United Nations says seven million people face a serious risk of famine in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country unless international donors intervene.