Al Mukalla: Al Houthis have intensified their siege on the southern city of Taiz, barring people from entering the city and obstructing the arrival of humanitarian assistance to thousands of starving people, local government officials and tribesmen said on Sunday.

“Many people who came from the countryside are stranded near Ghourab checkpoint after Al Houthis prevented them from entering the city,” Abdu Hamoud, the commander of the western front, told Gulf News.

In an attempt to force local resistance fighters to capitulate, Al Houthis and army units loyal to the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh in March last year laid siege to Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, forcing locals to take rugged and dangerous slopes to deliver vital food and medical supplies to the city.

Hamoud said that the rebels have also sent huge military reinforcements, including dozens of armed vehicles to the city’s outskirts, and indiscriminately shelled residential areas.

“They have amassed huge forces around the city and are shelling the city from all sides.”

Despite the blockade, rebel forces have failed to recapture the city’s downtown from pro-government forces.

Hamoud said that roughly 20 Al Houthis were killed and 15 were injured in fierce fighting with government forces in the last couple of days. Local right groups say hundreds of civilians, including children and women, have been killed since the beginning of Al Houthis’ military activities in the city early last year.

In the northern province of Jawf, local tribesmen said on Sunday that an Al Houthi field commander and ten of his fighters deserted the rebel fighters and backed the government forces.

Al Jawf Media Centre said on Sunday that Hamad Mohsen Jarem left Al Houthi positions in the province and decided to fight alongside resistance fighters. The same media centre said that Saudi warplanes launched massive air strikes on Al Houthis’ military sites in Ghayel district.

In Hajja, where government forces are engaging in heavy battles with Al Houthis, warplanes and Apaches pounded Al Houthi forces in Haradh city near the border with Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition stepped in militarily in Yemen in March last year to blunt Al Houthis’ advance across Yemen. The coalition managed to drive the rebel forces out of almost all provinces in southern Yemen, including the strategic port city of Aden.

The internationally recognised government returned to Aden, that was declared the temporary base of the government till liberation of Al Houthi-controlled Sana’a. The coalition also trained thousands of local fighters who took part in another massive operation that pushed Al Qaida militants out of Aden, Lahj and Hadramout.