Deadly fighting multiplies humanitarian suffering of families in Yemen's Aden

As the deadly street-to-street fighting between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) continues for the third consecutive day in the port city of Aden, the humanitarian suffering of many families is multiplying.

Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government forces started using heavy weapons including tanks and armored vehicles to repulse attacks launched by the STC's security units in Aden.

The two warring sides engaged in ferocious battles for the control of the Presidential Palace located in Aden's densely populated neighborhood of Crater.

Several houses were affected as a result of the bloody clashes in which mortar shells were used between the forces of the two warring rivals, according to local sources.

"Scores of families living near the Presidential Palace are now badly suffering and need urgent assistance from the humanitarian organizations," a source of Aden's local authority told Xinhua by phone.

"Shells landed on their residential buildings and many of their parked civilian cars were burned in the ongoing fighting that also blocked all the main roads," he said on condition of anonymity.

Medical sources said around 12 civilians, including children and women, were injured as a result of random shelling that struck their houses in Aden's northern neighborhood of Dar Sad.

A government official told Xinhua that the continuation of the street-to-street fighting means that the lives of scores of families will be in real danger.

"No assistance from local or international organizations can reach the residential areas that are besieged by the ongoing (fight) particularly around the Presidential Palace," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"Even the transport of medical or food aid to the trapped families is now under threat due to the street battles," he noted.

Earlier in the day, a military official said the STC forces besieged the palace from different directions and continued advancing in the surrounding areas amid heavy clashes with presidential guard forces.

"Several high-ranking government officials left the palace one day ago and some officials are now positioned inside their residential buildings elsewhere in Aden," said the source.

Speaking to Xinhua by phone, residents said they were unable to get out to buy food or medicine as armored vehicles surrounded their houses.

Other security sources said non-stop armed confrontations have continued since Thursday night around the residential building of Interior Minister Ahmed Maisry in Aden's neighborhood of Mansourah.

The fighting started when senior leaders of the STC accused the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of "backing Islamists and leaking information to the Iran-backed Houthis" who targeted an army base in Aden last week, killing scores of soldiers including commanders.

The STC threatened "to seize the presidential palace and expel all the members of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government who are linked to Muslim Brotherhood parties."

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government issued a statement and held the STC fully responsible for destabilizing the situation in Aden and fomenting trouble in the southern regions.

On Wednesday, the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths expressed deep concerns over a military escalation in Aden and called on the parties involved to abandon violence and engage in dialogue to resolve differences.

"I am alarmed by the military escalations in Aden, including reports of clashes in the vicinity of the presidential palace. I am also deeply concerned by the recent rhetoric encouraging violence against Yemeni institutions," he said in a statement.

"Escalations of violence will contribute to instability and suffering in Aden and will deepen Yemen's political and social divisions," he said.

Considered Yemen's temporary capital, Aden is where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has based itself since 2015.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa.