A Yemeni woman was killed and a number of houses were damaged by heavy artillery and rocket fire by al-Houthi militias on the residential villages in the Salou district southeast of Taiz. According to a local source, al-Houthi militia fired shells that fell in the villages of al-Janat, a village belonging to the isolation of Sayleh Qaradah, located under the Damloua fortress. The houses were severely damaged.

Three government forces and eight Houthi rebels were killed in clashes in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province on Tuesday, according to a government commander. The casualties occurred when government forces attacked Houthi positions in Al-Houd, south of Taiz province, Army Col. Abdul Basset al-Bahr told Anadolu Agency.

He said the attack aimed to seize control of the Houthi-held area. A Houthi spokesman could not be reached for comment. Last month, pro-government forces overran Al-Salo district in Taiz from Houthi rebels, who later managed to recapture it. Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in 2015 aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s embattled government. Over 3 million people have fled their homes since the onset of the conflict, and more than 20 million throughout the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

On the other hand, Houthis rejected Beijing’s efforts to resume talks with UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmad, Yemeni officials revealed on Friday.

“The efforts launched by some world powers to restart talks between Houthis and Ould Chiekh are currently facing some challenges. We are waiting that those efforts bear fruits ahead of completing all the elements of a solution,” Rajeh Badi, Yemeni government spokesman said in press statements on Friday.

For his part, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdel-Malak Al-Mekhlafi told Asharq Al-Awsat that Chinese ambassador to Yemen Tian Chi exerted efforts to plan meetings between Ould Cheikh and Houthis. However, he said, those efforts were lately disrupted by the militants, who rejected the Chinese mediation.

Meanwhile, Yemeni media reports said that Houthis refused to meet with the UN envoy in Sana’a, adding that Ould Cheikh spent a few days in Oman before heading to Riyadh, where he stayed for another three days ahead of traveling to his UN office in Jordan without visiting Sana’a.

However, Ould Cheikh said in a press statement on Friday: “This information is inaccurate. I never planned to visit Sana’a lately.” Meanwhile, Mekhlafi said that a UN roadmap aiming to solve the crisis in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah lists the need to hand over the area to a third party including “Yemeni soldiers who are not loyal to the coup.”

Asked whether those soldiers were linked to the State, Mekhlafi said: “They support the state. Such an issue was approved by all parties during the UN-supported Yemeni peace talks in Kuwaiti, in addition to being the base for any military committee.”

Ould Cheikh added, “We do not ask the warring parties to hand over Hodeidah to the legitimate government, but only to place the port in the hands of a third party from the UN that could manage it.”