53 Houthi fighters have been killed in airstrikes in Hodeida

Dozens of Houthi rebels have been killed since Saturday in fighting and airstrikes in Hodeida, on the west coast of Yemen, medical sources told AFP Sunday.The port city of Hodeida, which is in the hands of Houthis rebels, is since Thursday, heavy fighting theater and the target of air strikes by pro-government forces supported by the coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
The coalition sent reinforcements to the west coast on Tuesday for a new assault on Hodeida - a strategic port on the Red Sea - according to Yemeni military officials.
A total of 53 Houthi fighters have been killed and dozens more injured since Saturday, medical sources told AFP in Hodeida.
Loyalist forces lost 13 men, other medical sources said in Aden and Mokha, government-controlled cities where dead bodies were transported.
Fighting between pro-government forces and rebels raged since Thursday near the University of Hodeida and intensified Saturday and into Sunday morning, according to a source in the pro-government forces.
The clashes erupted as pro-government units arrived in the vicinity of the university, and hours after the Yemeni government, based in Aden, said it was ready to resume peace negotiations with the rebels.
The United Nations recently called on belligerents to sit at the negotiating table within a month, after unsuccessfully trying in September to hold peace talks in Geneva. Peace talks in Kuwait also failed in 2016.
The coalition has been working in Yemen since 2015 under Saudi command to reestablish in Sanaa the internationally recognized government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a refugee in Riyadh.
The Houthis are still masters of the capital Sana'a and hold other cities like Hodeida, the point of entry for three quarters of Yemen's imports.
The country is ravaged by a war that has left some 10,000 dead and more than 56,000 injured according to the UN. More than seven million children face a severe risk of starvation, according to the same source.