Despite a UN-brokered truce deal... Houthis attack Hodeida‏

Iran-backed Houthi militants have stepped up their attacks inside the port city of Hodeida despite a UN-brokered truce deal there, government forces have reported according to Gulf News.

The extremists on Tuesday attacked government troops in several parts of the Red Sea coast city, using heavy artillery and mortars, a media centre for the pro-government Giants Force, said in a statement.

“The militias fired a number of artillery shells towards positions of joint forces in an escalation and violation of the UN truce,” a field military source said, according to Dubai-based television Al Arabia. No casualty figures were reported.

Last December, the Yemeni government and Al Houthis reached an agreement in Sweden for redeployment and withdrawal from Hodeida.

Yemen’s conflict erupted after Al Houthis unseated the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and overran parts of the country, including the capital Sana’a, in late 2014.

In 2015, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition intervened in Yemen in response to a request from the Hadi government .