Yemeni government forces attacked rebel positions on the Red Sea coast on Saturday sparking clashes in which six soldiers and 11 rebels were killed, a loyalist commander said.
The assault on the coastal district of Dhubab, just 30 km north of the Bab al-Madab strait where the busy shipping lane enters the Arabian Sea, came after the government sent reinforcements from its headquarters in Aden.
The government and its allies in a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the strait in October 2015. But the rebels still control nearly all Yemen’s Red Sea coast to the north, posing what the coalition says is a threat to international shipping.
In September and October, two US warships and a UAE vessel contracted to the coalition were targeted by missile fire from rebel-held territory.
The loyalist offensive failed to dislodge the rebels from their positions as they put up fierce resistance, leaving many wounded on both sides, the commander said.