Deadly clashes shake Yemen’s Aden

Fighting raged on Thursday  in Yemen’s battleground southern city Aden, a day after the United Nations declared its highest level humanitarian emergency in the war-torn country.

The new clashes left seven rebels and five pro-government fighters dead, a military official said. It comes after rebel rocket fire on a residential district of Aden killed 31 civilians on Wednesday  and left more than 100 others wounded, according to a medical official. 

Rebel shelling on a western district of Aden early on Thursday  damaged several homes and left casualties, residents said. Meanwhile, a port near the Aden oil refinery came under rebel artillery shelling for a fifth consecutive day and a blaze continued in the area, said Aden Refinery Company spokesman Naser al-<g data-gr-id="17">Shayef</g>.

In the adjacent Lahj province and nearby Shabwa, Saudi-led coalition warplanes carried out several overnight strikes against rebel positions, residents said. The coalition has been bombing the Iran-backed <g data-gr-id="22">Huthi</g> rebels since March 26 in support of Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia.

The UN had declared Yemen a level-three emergency, the highest on its scale, as aid 

chief Stephen O’Brien held talks to discuss the crisis.