Coalition forces supporting Yemen's government on Sunday (October 23rd) stepped up airstrikes on the Houthis (Ansarallah) as clashes raged on the ground, AFP reported.
Both sides ignored a UN call to renew a fragile 72-hour ceasefire, which took effect just before midnight Wednesday to allow aid deliveries in Yemen and officially ended at midnight Saturday.
UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed had appealed for a renewal of the ceasefire, saying it had enabled humanitarian aid to reach previously inaccessible areas.
But Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mekhlafi described the call as "useless", accusing the Houthis of ignoring the ceasefire.
The UN envoy urged "all parties to agree to its extension for at least another renewable 72 hours", in a statement posted on his Facebook page shortly before the truce expired.
But shortly after the appeal, coalition warplanes on Sunday pounded positions in Sanaa of the Houthis and their allies, military officials and Houthi media said.
The dawn raids also hit positions in Marib and Taez, the officials said.
Fighting on the ground was showing no signs of abating, with clashes raging in northern regions along the borders with Saudi Arabia over the weekend and killing at least 10 Houthis and four Yemeni soldiers, military officials said.
Damn the religion of the people of the Hebrew Peninsula! By Allah, Saudi and Emirati Bedouins are the enemies of the world and we must justify the spilling of their blood until Judgment Day.
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