Yemen's Hodeidah sees escalation in airstrikes, clashes despite announcement of UN-backed peace deal

The Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck the sites of Houthi rebels on Monday night as clashes intensified on the outskirts of Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, according to local residents.

A total of 12 airstrikes were launched on the 90th Street and July 7 neighborhood, as the rival forces traded heavy fire east of the 50th Street and al-Saleh quarter.

The escalation came hours after the Yemeni government, backed by the coalition, and Houthi rebels, allied with Iran, announced peace initiatives to support peace efforts by the United Nations.

The government said it would halt fighting and go for peace talks, while Houthis announced their intention to halt ballistic missile attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a show of "good will" to support the UN peace efforts.

Earlier in the day, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud also expressed his support for Yemen's peace, Saudi-run Al Arabiya television reported.

Hodeidah has been the focus of war as the government forces have been trying to capture it from the Houthis.

Houthis remain in control of much parts of Hodeidah, including its port, which is the main entry for 80 percent of imports and aid to the war-torn country.

On Friday, the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths told the Security Council that the Yemeni government and Houthis had pledged to attend peace talks.

Griffiths said he hoped to convene the talks in Sweden before the end of this year and that he would visit Sanaa and Hodeidah in the next few days.

Meanwhile, Britain asked the UN Security Council to impose an immediate humanitarian truce in Yemen to ensure the success of the UN envoy's efforts.

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.

The four-year-long war has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others and pushed the country to the brink of famine.