SANAA: Fierce fighting in northern Yemen near the Saudi border has killed more than 75 troops over the past three days, Yemeni security sources and witnesses said on Saturday, casting a cloud over already tenuous peace talks in Switzerland.

The clashes in Hajjah province between rebel-allied units and pro-government Yemeni forces killed more than 40 rebels and 35 government troops, with 50 wounded on the rebel side and dozens wounded on the government side, they said.

Dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed in the fighting and most of the dead were killed by air strikes from the Saudi-led coalition that dominates the skies in Yemen, said the witnesses and security sources, who remain neutral in the conflict that has splintered Yemen.

The government troops advanced across the border from Saudi territory after training there for months, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to brief reporters.

Yemen’s fighting pits the internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led, US-supported coalition against the rebels, known as Houthis, who are allied with a former president and backed by Iran.

The fighting comes as the Yemeni rebel delegation at peace talks in Switzerland suspended meetings with the internationally recognised government on Friday in protest over its ceasefire violations.

The rebels, known as Houthis, said they would not resume talks unless the UN condemned the breaches by government forces of the week-long truce, delegates at the talks said.

The United Nations, which is mediating the talks, cast doubts on the alleged suspension, however, with special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed saying that the heads of delegations had renewed their commitment for a ceasefire.

The UN has urged all factions in the conflict to end the violence and is pressing to keep the talks going.

It was unclear to what extent the renewed combat would affect progress at the talks in Switzerland.

On Thursday, the Houthis agreed to permit the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries into the besieged city of Taiz as well as the cities of Saada and Hajjah, the capital of the province where the fresh fighting was taking place.

Earlier on Saturday, the rebels agreed to release five high-profile prisoners, including the president’s brother and the defence minister, as a gesture of good will, two participants at the talks said.

Defence Minister Mahmoud Subaihi and Gen Nasser Mansour Hadi, brother of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, would be handed over to the Red Cross with the other three prisoners later in the day, they said.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2015