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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Fighting was underway Saturday in multiple Yemeni provinces on the fourth day of a humanitarian truce between a Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels, security and tribal officials said.
The five-day truce has been repeatedly violated, with each side blaming the other.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists, reported fierce fighting Saturday in the southern city of Aden, the western city of Taiz and the province of Marib.
Medical and security officials say three civilians were killed in Aden by mortar shells during an exchange of fire. Two civilians were killed and three others were wounded in clashes in Taiz, officials said.
Saleh al-Anjaf, a spokesman for an anti-Houthi tribal alliance in the northern Marib province, said hundreds of fighters loyal to the Houthis and their allies have arrived in the area as reinforcements, as heavy fighting continued with local tribesmen.
Yemen's conflict pits Shiite Houthi rebels and allied military units against forces loyal to embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the country in March. The Saudi-led coalition, which supports Hadi, began the airstrikes on March 26.
Yemen's conflict has killed more than 1,400 people — many of them civilians — since March 19, according to the U.N. The country of some 25 million people has endured shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity as a result of a Saudi-led blockade.
Humanitarian organizations are trying to bring in and distribute aid before the end of the truce.
But in multiple cities, including Aden and Taiz, citizens say they have not yet received any of the badly needed assistance.
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