Yemen rebels 'forced out of Aden presidential palace'

Houthi rebel forces have withdrawn from Aden's presidential palace after overnight air raids by the Saudi-led coalition, a senior Yemeni official said.

"The Houthi militia and their allies withdrew before dawn from al-Maashiq palace," said the official in Aden on Fridat, who did not want to be named.

The rebels had seized the hilltop complex on Thursday after fierce fighting with supporters of of president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has taken refuge in Saudi Arabia.

The rebels retreated to the nearby central district of Khor Maksar, the source told the AFP news agency.

Advance on Aden

Houthi forces and army units loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have continued other advance in Aden, despite Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

The fighting in Aden has been fierce, with at least 44 peopled reported dead, including 18 civilians.

"There are bodies and wounded in the streets and nobody dares to approach," said Khaled al-Shaie, a resident in the central neighbourhood of Crater.

There are bodies and wounded in the streets and nobody dares to approach. Khaled al-Shaie

Fighting over the past few days has centred on the Aden districts of Dar Saad and Khorm Aksar. A member of Aden's security committee told al-Araby al-Jadeed that snipers could be seen firing from rooftops.

"[The snipers] belong to the counter-terrorism forces trained by the United States and used by Saleh," the security committee member said.

Clashes in the border region between Saudi Arabia and Yemen left one Saudi soldier dead on Thursday. He was the first to die since Saudi Arabia began operations against Houthi-Saleh forces a week ago.

The Saudi interior ministry said that border guards at a post in southwestern Asir came "under fire from a mountainous interior zone".

The Saudis have assigned 100,000 troops and 100 jets to the conflict in Yemen, but as of yet there is no official word on a ground invasion.