SANAA: Heavy fighting broke out Sunday as troops renewed attacks on the mountain stronghold of rebels in Yemen’s rugged north, military officials and witnesses said, amid worsening humanitarian conditions in the country.
Army tanks fired salvos as armored cars blocked the entrances to the narrow alleys of the old city in Saada, stronghold of the Zaidi rebels, two days after a government-proposed ceasefire failed to last more than hours, officials said.
The rebels returned fire on the army from a hideout in a fortress overlooking the old town. Shops were closed and residents stayed indoors.
“They (the army and the rebels) clashed and the police halted all traffic. I was not able to get to work,” Abdel-Qader, a clerk, said by telephone.
The fighting began intensifying on Saturday, leaving dozens of people dead or injured in the north of Yemen, according to military officials.
The United Nations says 35,000 people have been displaced during three weeks of clashes in the region and Saada city is cut off from the outside world, with food running low.
After waging its “Scorched Earth” operation for three weeks, the government said on Friday it would observe a ceasefire in response to requests from aid agencies.
But fighting resumed only four hours after the truce was announced.
The rebels accused the government on Sunday of preventing civilians displaced by the fighting from returning to their homes and of trying to use their plight to its own advantage.
“The government is not looking to apply a ceasefire but is trying to mislead and trick in order to use the issue of the displaced and those harmed (by the fighting) to get military assistance to the (army’s) besieged positions in Saada and Amran,” the rebels said in a statement.
They said the government had bombarded Amran province with rockets and fired artillery on areas there.
“(Displaced) people had hoped the ceasefire would allow them to return home after suffering in the open, but everyone was taken aback by the heavy bombing of residential areas on Sunday morning,” they said.
