Coalition strikes, fighting kill 24 Yemen rebels

At least 24 rebels were killed Thursday in Saudi-led coalition air strikes and attacks by pro-government forces in Yemen’s south, military sources said.

Coalition jets bombed two rebel troops carriers north of Damt, the second largest city in Daleh province, which Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies recaptured on Saturday.

The strikes left 13 rebels dead and several others wounded, said Ali Moqbel Saleh, the commander of a loyalist military camp in the region.

Elsewhere in the same region, 11 rebels were killed in two ambushes on their convoys by fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, another military source said.

AFP could not confirm these tolls from independent sources and the rebels rarely acknowledge their losses.

The loyalists, backed by Saudi-led coalition strikes, supplies and troops, pushed the rebels out of Daleh and four other southern provinces in July.

But the rebels this weekend recaptured several positions in the south, sparking deadly fighting in the region.

In March, Saudi Arabia formed a coalition in support of Hadi’s internationally-recognised government.

Around 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict since March, more than half of them civilians, according to UN estimates.

A new round of UN-brokered Yemen talks to end the conflict is expected to kick off in Geneva this month.