Military sources and witnesses said the fighting parties clashed in Yemen south of the Red Sea city of Hodeidah on Saturday evening after the Houthi group affiliated with Iran advanced into an area abandoned by forces loyal to the Saudi-led coalition.

Reuters quoted two military sources and residents as saying that “coalition military warplanes carried out airstrikes in the Fasa district south of Hodeidah, while Houthi militants clashed with pro-UAE forces until midnight yesterday.”

On Friday, Yemeni forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates, announced they were sending them back from around the country’s main port of Hodeidah in the west, a UN surveillance mission and government that said it had not been notified in advance.

In a post on Twitter, the Giants Brigades, a southern force, said they had been re-employed from around the city of Hodeidah in western Yemen, a key entry point for trade imports and humanitarian aid flows.

The announcement by Yemeni forces came at a time when the city governor announced the reopening of a major road connecting the capital, Sanaa.

In a separate post on Twitter, a spokesman for the pro-UAE forces said the redistribution had taken place in late 2018 due to a lack of action to implement a UN-sponsored agreement on the withdrawal of troops from both sides as a phase. According to Reuters.

He said it was a withdrawal from the areas specified in the Stockholm agreement, which “removes restrictions on the operations of the Allied forces and frees them from control of the Swedish treaty, which threatens their military by disrupting all their capabilities.”

In 2018, the Saudi-backed government reached a UN-sponsored ceasefire agreement in Hodeidah with the Houthis controlling the city. The ceasefire was largely held, and the withdrawal of troops from both sides has been suspended since 2019.

But the ceasefire was violated and several clashes took place around the city.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in 2014, the Houthis have gradually occupied much of northern and western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

During the Seven Years’ War, according to the United Nations, Yemen sank into one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the world, and two-thirds of its population relied on international aid. Tens of thousands of Yemenis have been killed, most of them civilians and millions displaced, according to international organizations.

Insurgents have been trying for months to capture the city of Marib, the center of the province of the same name, the last stronghold of the internationally recognized government in the north of the country.

It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.

Last Wednesday, the coalition denied reports of a Saudi military withdrawal from southern Yemen, with security sources telling Reuters that the Saudi military had left a large base in Aden.

Three sources told Reuters that the coalition forces had withdrawn from Durahimi and Duhaida, south of the city of Hodeidah.

As part of its serious efforts to end the war, Washington is pressuring Riyadh to lift restrictions imposed by coalition ships on Houthi-controlled ports, which is a condition for the Houthis to begin ceasefire talks.

And 32 insurgents and nine government forces were killed in clashes that erupted on Saturday, south of the western Yemeni city of Hodeidah, where the Saudi-led coalition announced new attacks in other areas, killing 186 insurgents.