Yemen's southerners fend off multiple Houthi militia attacks

Fierce clashes raged Monday between Shiite Houthi militia and fighters loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in southern Yemen, leaving nearly 100 dead in 24 hours.

At least 53 people have been killed in 24 hours of fighting between Houthi militiamen and forces loyal to President Hadi in the main southern city Aden, medical and army sources said on Monday.

Seventeen civilians were said to be among the dead.

Witnesses said that clashes continued on Monday as Houthi militiamen tried to seize a port in the city, which sits on an extinct volcano jutting out into the sea.

In the town of Daleh, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Aden, at least 19 Houthi militants and 15 pro-Hadi fighters were killed in fighting overnight, local officials said.

Seven more people were killed in clashes in the southern province of Abyan, where Hadi loyalists have besieged the base of a brigade loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is backing the Houthis.

Similar clashes also erupted between Houthi militants and Hadi fighters loyal to President Hadi in the Mualla district of Aden that left casualties on both sides.

Eyewitnesses told the Anadolu Agency that Houthi gunmen are stationed atop a government building and other high residential building in the Mualla district, while tanks provided security for the militants and shelled groupings of fighters near civilians' homes, which left several dead or injured.

Local residents told AA that fires broke out in several houses in Mualla and that the district's residents have begun to aid with evacuating families that are trapped in these houses.

A source with pro-Hadi group in Aden told AA that his group managed to destroy four Houthi tanks and besieged Houthi militants in a number of buildings in which they were barricaded.

Hadi, who is backed by the United Nations as Yemen's legitimate leader, took refuge in Aden in February after the Houthi militiamen, who hail from the mountainous north, seized power in the capital Sanaa.

Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia last month as the Houthis advanced on his southern stronghold, prompting the military campaign by the Saudi-led coalition, now in its 12th day.

Yemen, strategically located near key shipping routes and bordering Saudi Arabia, is sinking deeper into a multi-sided civil conflict.

The fighting has drawn in an array of armed groups including the Houthi militia, pro-Hadi forces, fighting units loyal to Saleh, southern separatists, Sunni tribes and Al-Qaeda militants.

Pakistan standing by

An AFP photographer at Sanaa airport reported that three Indian aircraft and one Russian plane landed in the capital on Monday to evacuate their citizens.

Russia presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Saturday calling for a humanitarian pause in the Saudi-led air war.

Riyadh has assembled a coalition of five Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan to wage air raids on the Houthi militia.

Pakistan said on Monday that it had been asked by Saudi Arabia to contribute aircraft, ships and ground troops to Operation Decisive Storm.

Despite close ties with Riyadh, Pakistan has so far held back from joining the offensive, saying it does not want to get involved in any conflict that would inflame sectarian tensions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due to visit Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the situation, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said during a special parliamentary debate.

"There should be no ambiguity that if the security of Saudi territory is at stake Pakistan will stand by for support," he told lawmakers.

Many Yemenis accuse Iran of supporting the Houthi militia, a charge that the militiamen and Tehran deny.

The Saudi-led coalition warplanes on Monday bombed military sites belonging to Houthi militants in the northern Saada province, considered a Houthi stronghold, eyewitnesses have said.

The coalition says the campaign is in response to appeals by Hadi to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."

For their part, the Houthis describe the offensive as an "aggression" on the Yemeni people.

Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthi militia overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.