Fresh clashes erupt between militants in Yemen's Aden

UAE-backed southern separatists and Saudi-led militia have engaged in fresh fighting in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden amid a growing rift within the Riyadh-led coalition in its war on the impoverished Arab country.

Aden residents said the clashes resumed Saturday dawn between the southern separatists and Saudi-backed militants supporting the ex-Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The battles, they added, centered on the all-but empty presidential palace and in a neighborhood, where self-proclaimed interior minister Ahmed al-Mayssari lives.

The minister, however, had left his home during a lull in fighting the previous night, unnamed sources told Reuters.

Saturday's fighting marked a fourth straight day of militant infighting in Aden, a gateway for commercial and aid supplies.

At least eight civilians were killed during Friday's confrontation, according to medical sources.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a humanitarian NGO, warned that civilians have been trapped in their homes with dwindling food and water supplies.

"There has been heavy, continuous shelling. We’re still hearing clashes in my neighborhood,” said Amgad, an NRC staff member. “There is no way to get out of the city. Roads are closed and it is not safe. People are scared. We hope this will end soon.”

Also on Saturday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres voiced concerns about the violent Aden clashes.

SS