Yemeni rebels advance on Aden

ADEN: Yemeni rebels advanced on southern city of Aden on Sunday and captured the provincial headquarters as a Saudi-led coalition trying to halt their advance faced growing calls for a humanitarian pause in air strikes.
The Red Cross has appealed for an immediate truce in the fighting to allow families to seek water, food and medical assistance, describing the situation as “dire”.
The Yemeni rebels fired mortar rounds at a television station loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Aden, forcing it off the air, an official said. The Aden TV building was “damaged but there were no casualties”, the official at the government-run channel said.
The attack came as battles raged between rebel forces and pro-Hadi militia in the Aden districts of Mualla and Qalwa’a, leaving at least five civilians dead and 14 wounded, according to the city’s health department director Al-Kheder Lassouar. “There are children among the wounded,” he said.
The coalition kept up its nighttime raids against rebel positions and arms depots, particularly around the capital Sanaa and Saada, the northern stronghold of the rebels.In main southern city Aden, the rebels advanced into the central district of Mualla, capturing the provincial government headquarters, a local official said. They bombarded residential areas, setting fire to several buildings and damaging others, witnesses said.
Residents reported casualties and said dozens of families had fled their homes in the port city, the heart of which sits on an extinct volcano jutting out into the sea. The rebel forces advanced to near the port of Mualla, which is defended by militiamen of “popular committees” loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
“Snipers, who took position on the roofs of provincial government buildings, targeted passersby and members of the popular committees,” pro-Hadi fighter Khalid Bashaea said.The hospitals treating the wounded are running short of medicines and the streets of Aden are strewn with bodies, the Red Cross said, calling for a 24-hour ceasefire.
“Our relief supplies and surgical personnel must be allowed to enter the country and safely reach the worst-affected places to provide help,” said Robert Mardin, head of Middle East operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“Otherwise, put starkly, many more people will die. For the wounded, their chances of survival depend on action within hours, not days.”The Saudi-led military coalition, which comprises four other Gulf States as well as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan, said aid would be allowed into the country when conditions are right.
“The humanitarian operation is part of our job, part of our responsibility,” spokesman Ahmed Assiri told reporters in Riyadh. But “we don’t want to supply the militias,” he added.At least 185 people are reported to have been killed in the fighting in Aden between supporters and opponents of the president.There were also violent clashes on Sunday in the rebel-held southern town of Loder, in Abyan province, where 24 people, including 21 militiamen, were reported dead.