ADEN, Yemen, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The joint pro-government Yemeni forces declared on Sunday that six Houthi rebels were killed in armed confrontations in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
The Houthis launched an armed attack against positions of national army forces in Hodeidah's district of Tuhyata, according to a brief press statement released by the joint pro-government forces.
The pro-government forces engaged in intense armed confrontations with the Houthi attackers and managed to repel their assault, the statement said.
No information, however, was given about casualties among the soldiers of the government during the exchange of fire.
Elsewhere in Hodeidah, clashes erupted between the pro-government Yemeni forces and the Houthi fighters in the district of Hays in the southeast of the strategic city of Hodeidah.
"An injured mid-level commander of the Houthi rebels was captured by the pro-government forces during the clashes in Hays," said a military officer who asked to remain anonymous.
Last October, the United Nations started deploying cease-fire observers in Hodeidah, establishing five observation points near the military contact lines between the two warring parties.
The observation points are manned by liaison officers from both parties in accordance with the cease-fire agreement reached last year in Sweden's Stockholm that also called on both warring sides to move forces away from ports and parts of Hodeidah.
However, sporadic exchange of gunfire and artillery shelling continued to rock the strategic port city despite the presence of the cease-fire observers.
The Iran-allied Houthi rebels control much of Hodeidah while the Saudi-backed government troops have advanced to its southeastern districts.
The cease-fire deal in Stockholm was seen as the first phase toward achieving a comprehensive political solution to the civil war in Yemen.
