HODEIDA, Yemen: At least 61 combatants have been killed in clashes in Yemen's Hodeida, medics and a military source said Sunday, and dozens of wounded taken to hospitals outside the city.
Medics in the Red Sea city reported 43 Houthi militia and nine pro-government fighters killed in clashes over the past 24 hours. Medics at a hospital in government-held Mokha, south of Hodeida, said another nine loyalist fighters were killed. A government military source confirmed the toll.
Dozens of wounded militia were transferred to hospitals in the provinces of Sanaa and Ibb, further inland, a source at the Hodeida military hospital told AFP.
The pro-government alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is pushing to seize Hodeida from the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
More than 400 fighters have been killed in 10 days of clashes in Hodeida, a city on Yemen's Red Sea coastline that is home to the country’s most valuable port.
Government forces have pressed further into the strategic port city, seizing its main hospital in heavy fighting Saturday, as they push towards Hodeida’s vital docks, which have been controlled by the Houthis since 2014, when they seized the capital Sanaa and a string of port cities.
