The United Nations called for a humanitarian truce in the Yemeni province of Taiz after government forces captured a town from Iran-allied Houthi militia in heavy fighting.
The fighting has complicated UN-sponsored peace talks, as envoys for the Houthis have delayed responding to UN proposals calling for Houthi pullouts from cities they control, including the capital Sanaa, and the creation of an inclusive government.
James McGoldrick, the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Yemen, voiced alarm at increasing bloodshed in the southwestern Taiz Governorate, particularly the al-Sarari area, and the closure of Taiz city, the regional capital.
He urged all warring parties to agree immediately to a “humanitarian pause” to protect civilians and co-operate with humanitarian agencies to help treat and evacuate war-wounded and deliver urgently needed medicine into the embattled zone.
McGoldrick warned both parties that holding civilian populations hostage and depriving them of humanitarian assistance was illegal under international humanitarian law.
Hadi supporters control most of Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 300,000, but it is sealed off by Houthi forces on three sides.
There were conflicting reports on the fighting in al-Sarari, a Houthi stronghold southeast of Taiz captured by troops loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi earlier this week.
Two residents of a hamlet adjacent to Sarari said that at least 15 Houthi combatants were killed or wounded in the fighting.
They said 40 other Houthis were taken prisoner but denied that any women or children were among them.
They said most Sarari residents had fled to neighbouring communities.
Hadi supporters have denied setting fires to houses and accused the Houthis of booby-trapping a Sarari mosque to try to kill as many Hadi supporters as possible.