Violent clashes between warring factions kill 50 fighters in Southern Yemen

SANAA, YEMEN: On Tuesday, there was an intense outbreak of violence between Emirati-backed separatists and the country's internationally-recognized government killed nearly 50 fighters on both sides.

The sudden onset of violent clashes that erupted in the Southern province of Abyan was the latest blow to a brittle ceasefire agreement brokered by Saudi Arabia in late 2019, which aimed to close the rift between the U.S. backed and Saudi-led coalition, who have been fighting against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels since 2015.

Last fall, the two sides agreed to a power-sharing deal, which was signed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, but the agreement was never implemented.

Nearly 50 fighters were killed and an additional 90 were wounded, with officials describing it as the fiercest outbreak of fighting in the past few months. These clashes have complicated matters for the international community, as a new arena of fighting has diluted any attempts to broker a peace agreement between the multiple warring factions - amidst the geo-strategic ambitions of the multiple regional powers involved in the conflict.

The incessant fighting in Yemen has spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from malnutrition, famine and disease - in addition to killing over 112,000 people including both fighters and civilians.