(MENAFN- Arab Times) Heavy fighting between government loyalists and rebels for control of Yemen's third city Taez has killed more than 80 people in the past 24 hours, military sources said on Monday. Pro-government and rebel forces have for months fought over Taez, seen as crucial gateway to the rebelheld capital Sanaa.
But clashes in the city have intensified in recent days after pro-government forces made sweeping territorial gains against the Iran-backed rebels in southern Yemen. Sources in the city told AFP that the bodies of 50 rebels and allied fighters were recovered from Taez Monday and that 31 pro-government fighters had been killed. Backed by air strikes from a Saudiled coalition, the loyalists have been pushing hard to take Taez, seizing several strategic locations on Sunday.
Coalition strikes continued to hit rebel positions in the city on Monday, witnesses said, as well as in other Yemeni provinces. The battle for Taez is expected to be difficult for the loyalists, analysts say, with recent victories by pro-government forces in Yemen's south likely the result of rebels pulling their forces back to the city. Yemen has been wracked by conflict since March, when the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels as they advanced on the main southern city of Aden, after seizing the capital in September.
Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, in exile in Saudi Arabia, have in recent weeks retaken Aden and several southern provinces. On Sunday the loyalists seized sites including the local intelligence headquarters, a fortress from which the rebels had been shelling Taez and the highest peak overlooking the city, according to Rashad al-Sharaabi, spokesman of the pro-government militia there Military sources in Taez reported fierce fighting using heavy weaponry around the rebel-held presidential palace and the city's airport.
The sources said that loyalists were advancing in the north and east but rebels still controlled entrances to Taez, including its eastern gate to Sanaa. Heavy fighting also took place in a town on the northern gate of Taez, witnesses said. The town is a stronghold for troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh - a key backer of the Shiite Houthi rebels. Other clashes also raged in the oil-rich eastern province of Marib as well as Baida in central Yemen, residents reported.
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