8 Yemenis killed in random Houthi shelling

At least eight Yemenis were killed on Wednesday by random shelling by Houthi rebels in two areas of the war-torn Arab country, local sources said.

In the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, at least four family members were killed as a result of mortar attacks from Houthis in the district of Tuhyata.

"A number of mortar shells landed on the residents' houses in Tuhyata, leaving four family members killed, including a child," a medical source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the media center of the pro-government Giants Brigades said fighting is still raging on with Houthi rebels, just a few km from the strategic port city of Hodeidah.

Scores of Houthi fighters were killed as a result of the ongoing clashes and intensified airstrikes launched against their sites within the past 24 hours, the media center said in a statement.

Elsewhere in Yemen, four people including a woman were killed when Houthis shelled a government-controlled village in the southern province of al-Dhalea hours after their withdrawal, according to local military sources.

A day earlier, the government forces backed by armored vehicles managed to recapture a number of villages from the Houthis in al-Dhalea, according to the state-run Saba news.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

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 Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the country with world's biggest humanitarian crisis, with 7 million Yemenis on the brink of famine and cholera which has caused more than 2,000 deaths.