ADEN: As many as 27 people were killed in city of Taez in Yemen as fighting continued between loyalist forces and rebels, medical sources say Saturday.
Loyalist forces have commenced intense battle also backed by air raids being carried out by Saudi-led coalition . The city was rocked by explosions and gunfire overnight as the coalition-backed forces of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi battled pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, residents of the city said to media persons.
Nineteen rebels, four soldiers of a mechanised army unit loyal to the president and four other pro-Hadi fighters were killed, a medical source told media.
The coalition warplanes carried out heavy air strikes on a presidential palace in Taez on Friday (yesterday) and of positions held by special forces units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who has sided with the Houthis.
Residents and security sources said rival fighters clashed Friday night in districts of Aden, while pro-Hadi forces with the support of air strikes held off rebels battling for the past week for control of Aden’s refinery, 15 kilometres (nine miles) to the west of the port city.
It is pertinent to mention here that Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia last month as the Houthis closed in on his refuge in the southern city of Aden, having advanced from their stronghold in northern Yemen last year to seize the capital Sana`a.
