SANAA, Yemen -- Yemeni forces battling Shiite rebels in the country's south said Tuesday that they took control of the airport in the port city of Aden, driving the rebels there into a part of the city jutting out into the sea.
The advance is a blow for the Houthi rebels, basically trapping them on the small peninsula that is part of Aden. Residents elsewhere in the city on the Arabian Sea took to the streets later Tuesday to celebrate the advances by the anti-rebel forces.
Tuesday's operation was assisted by "preparatory airstrikes" by a Saudi-led coalition on Houthi positions over the past few days, according to a statement from Ali al-Ahmadi, spokesman for the Aden Resistance Leadership Council, which leads the city's anti-rebel forces.
Independent security officials confirmed the advance, but rebel officials refused to comment. Both the independent and the rebel officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Al-Ahmadi said logistical support from the coalition gave the anti-rebel forces the upper hand against the Houthis, who have been weakened by months of airstrikes by the coalition.
The Saudi-led forces, "in addition their undeniable role in logistical support and their preparatory airstrikes, which took place before today's operation," contributed to Tuesday's advance, al-Ahmadi added.
The fighting in Yemen pits the Houthis and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants, and loyalists of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is now based in Saudi Arabia. The rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, in September.
Iran supports the rebels, known as Houthis, but denies arming them. The U.S. backs the Saudi-led coalition, which began airstrikes against the Houthis and their allies in late March. It also carried out airstrikes Tuesday in the capital, Sanaa.
The strikes came despite a United Nations-brokered truce -- now in its fourth day -- between the rebels, and the country's internationally-backed government in exile and its allies. The truce, which began after midnight Friday, was meant to last through the end of the holy month of Ramadan to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid into the country.
The U.N. said Tuesday that at least 142 civilians have been killed in Yemen over the past 10 days, bringing the civilian death toll in more than three months of violence to 1,670.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. human rights office, said in Geneva that along with the 142 civilians killed between July 3 and Monday, another 224 civilians were injured in Yemen. That included 76 deaths and 38 injuries in a pair of airstrikes on markets July 6.
The latest numbers bring the total killed in Yemen since March 26 to 1,670, while 3,829 civilians have been injured, Colville said.
Fuel shortages in Yemen due to a siege by the Saudi-led coalition that limits imports, as well as the ongoing ground fighting, could lead to an even higher death toll, the international aid group Oxfam warned Tuesday.
Water pumps will fail to work without fuel, leaving 80 percent of Yemen's population of 20 million without a source for clean water, the agency said.
Separately, the U.N. refugee agency said that about 10,500 illegal aliens have arrived in Yemen by sea since March 26 -- bringing to over 37,000 the total so far this year, among them Ethiopians, Somalis and others. Many have been tricked into making the crossing by smugglers who told them the conflict in Yemen is over, the agency said.
It added that nearly 1.27 million Yemenis are now displaced within their own country, while more than 51,000 people have fled Yemen for Djibouti, Somalia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Information for this article was contributed by Geir Moulson and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/15/2015