(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Aid agencies warned yesterday of a growing humanitarian crisis including food shortages in Yemen as Saudi-led warplanes hit rebel positions for a third week and rival forces clashed.
In Riyadh, Yemen's Prime Minister Khaled Bahah was sworn in as vice-president at the country's embassy in front of exiled President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
Yemen's main southern city of Aden saw the heaviest fighting overnight, with medics and military forces saying at least 30 people were killed in clashes.
Farther north, fierce clashes continued in Daleh where 40 rebels and three pro-president fighters have been killed since Sunday, a local official and southern fighters said. Three children were killed yesterday when a shell hit their house in south Daleh, southern activist Saleh Binlaghbar said.
Residents said warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition pounded the rebel-held presidential complex and other positions in Aden.
Human Rights Watch urged the coalition to take "necessary steps to minimise harm to civilians", urging the bloc and the United States to investigate "alleged laws-of-war violations," including the bombing of a displaced persons camp last month.
Humanitarian groups have struggled to deliver aid and said yesterday that the situation in Aden was deteriorating rapidly. "Shops are closed. We have a problem of food," said Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, Yemen representative of Doctors without Borders (MSF).
Metaz Al Maisuri, an activist in Aden, said basic services had ceased and there had been a "mass exodus" from the city. Adwaa Mubarak, a 48-year-old Aden resident, said: "We are unable to leave our houses to buy what we need because of the Houthi snipers." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Sunday of a huge humanitarian crisis as "civilian casualties are mounting and public infrastructure is being destroyed". Aid workers said Sana'a is also suffering, as air strikes hit rebel positions there and supplies dwindle.
The International Committee of the Red Cross flew more than 35 tonnes of medical aid and equipment into Sana'a on Saturday, after Friday's first deliveries organised by the Red Cross and United Nations.
HRW's UN and crisis advocacy director, Philippe Bolopion said "the alarming civilian deaths and humanitarian crisis in Yemen should spur the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis to get serious about protecting civilians." HRW also noted that the rebels have "unlawfully" deployed forces in densely populated areas.
Thousands of foreigners have been trapped by the fighting, with the International Organisation for Migration saying more than 16,000 are stranded. Some evacuations have taken place, with Russia on Sunday saying it had evacuated more than 650 people, and the IOM said it had flown a first planeload of 141 passengers out of Sana'a.
Meanwhile, Yemeni tribesmen seized control of army bases assigned with protecting Balhaf port, location of the country's only gas export terminal, tribal and military sources said.
Soldiers from two army brigades based near the port in Shabwa province have abandoned their positions, and tribesmen who had besieged the bases advanced and seized heavy weaponry, the sources said.
The bases are just a few kilometres from the gas plant, in which France's Total has an almost 40 percent interest.
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