(4 May 2016) Pro-government fighters in the Yemeni city of Taiz say they are returning fire after militias loyal to the Houthi rebels broke a United Nations-brokered ceasefire.
Outside of town, militiamen of the "Popular Resistance" units, who are fighting the Houthis, have been firing into the mountains that surround the city.
Taiz has seen some of the worst fighting and shortages due to a double blockade - one layer enforced on large parts of the country by the Saudi-led, pro-government coalition, and another by the Houthis in and around the city itself.
Despite the ceasefire, pro-government forces said that residential areas were still coming under artillery fire after it had been implemented.
Taiz, perhaps the country's most contentious city having repeatedly changed hands throughout the past two years of fighting, also saw protests last week by people decrying recent peace talks in Kuwait.
With the fighting showing no signs of letting up soon, the UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said on Monday that the delegation from the country's government has suspended its participation in the talks.
Ahmed said in a statement that the Yemeni government stopped participating in plenary sessions because of developments in the governorate of Amran, which reportedly came under rebel attack.
The statement says he has received assurances from the warring parties that they are committed to resolving differences without participating in joint sessions, and that the UN hopes to resume the talks.
The closed-door talks aim to end fighting between the Yemeni government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition on one side and and the Shiite-affiliated Houthis rebels, who seized the capital in September 2014.
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