An Indian army soldier holds an AK-47 assault rifle during a fight in the town of Dinanagar, in the northern state of Punjab, India, Monday, July 27, 2015. Indian army commandos joined police in fighting suspected militants who fired at a bus station and stormed into police barracks on the outskirts of a northern town bordering Pakistan early Monday. Rebels have been fighting for an independent Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. (AP)
SANAA, Yemen — Saudi-led coalition air strikes came to a halt in Yemen early yesterday after a five-day humanitarian truce went into effect, witnesses and security officials said.
However, ground fighting broke out almost immediately in the restive city of Taiz following random shelling by Shiite Houthi rebels in three neighborhoods, they said.
Security officials said ground fighting has also erupted in Marib province and in the area surrounding the strategic al-Anad military base in Lahj province.
Random shelling by Houthis and their allies hit northern and western areas of the port city of Aden after the ceasefire, security officials and witnesses said.
The Saudi-led and US-backed coalition of mainly Gulf Arab countries has been waging an air campaign since March against the Iran-supported rebels, who control most of northern Yemen and the capital, Sanaa.
The pause declared by the Saudi-led coalition began at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday. It is intended to help allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to ease the suffering of civilians in the Arab world’s poorest country.
The coalition made the unexpected announcement about the humanitarian pause on Saturday. The statement, carried on Saudi state media, said the coalition will cease military operations, but that it will respond should Houthi rebels or their allies conduct any military actions or movements.
The rebels, known as Houthis, have expressed doubt over the truce.
One Houthi official said it will likely mark “the beginning of a new war.”
Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi’s Revolutionary Council, said Sunday that the group had not received official notification of the truce from the United Nations.
Two previous humanitarian truces in Yemen did not hold.