Fresh aid reaches Yemen capital as clashes rage in south

Sanaa: The Red Cross on Saturday delivered a second planeload of aid to war-battered Yemen in as many days, as the Saudi-led coalition stepped up air raids on allies of Iran-backed rebels.

The aid is urgently needed for hundreds wounded in fighting between pro-government forces and the Shiite Huthi rebels, who are allies of troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Coalition warplanes today launched raids in and around Sanaa, with at least 11 around Sanhan, Saleh's home town.

A raid on military targets in Amran province north of Sanaa killed eight rebels, medics said on the 18th day of the Saudi-led air campaign.

Fighting in and around the southern city of Aden since late yesterday between rebels and pro-government forces has killed 42 people including three civilians, medics and military sources said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its aircraft landed in Sanaa with medical equipment after weeks of intense fighting across the country.

"The new cargo is 35.6 tonnes, of which 32 tonnes is medical aid and the rest water purifying equipment, electric power generators and tents," ICRC spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali said.

The Red Cross and the UN also sent planes to Sanaa yesterday, each carrying 16 tonnes of medicine and equipment, the first aid supplies to reach the capital since the air campaign began late last month.

Russian news website Vesti.Ru reported that two Russian aircraft were unable to land in Sanaa today to evacuate hundreds of civilians after being denied coalition permission to enter Yemeni airspace.

More than two weeks of heavy bombardment against opponents of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and fighting between rival militias has prompted a UN call for a freeze in the violence.

UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, said an "immediate humanitarian pause in this conflict" was desperately needed to step up aid deliveries.

"The situation in Aden is extremely, extremely preoccupying if not catastrophic," he said, warning that the southern port city had fallen prey to "urban warfare" and "uncontrollable militias".

The WHO says nearly 650 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the recent escalation in violence.

Yemen's second city Aden has seen some of the toughest fighting.

Today, pro-Hadi forces ambushed rebels aboard a 30-vehicle convoy which tried to enter a neighbourhood where oil refineries are located, Hadi loyalists said.

Thirteen rebels and four loyalist forces were killed, they added.