Saudi-led coalition says over 100 Yemen rebels killed near Marib

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Tuesday that it had killed 110 Houthi rebels in air strikes over the past 24 hours around Marib, the government's last northern bastion.

"Twenty-two military vehicles and an arms depot were destroyed and 110" rebels were killed in the strikes on the provinces of Marib and neighbouring Al-Jawf, the coalition said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The coalition, which intervened militarily in 2015 to prop up the internationally recognised Yemeni government, has been reporting strikes and rebel deaths almost daily in recent weeks.

AFP cannot independently verify the tolls.

The Houthis rarely announce casualties but have continued their advance towards the strategic government-held city of Marib.

The push began in February but has intensified since September after a lull.

Yemen's civil war was sparked after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to support the government the following year.

In a visit Monday to the southwestern city of Taez - besieged by the Houthis - UN special Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg said the country was facing an "uphill battle" for peace and called for dialogue to "break the cycle of violence".

US special envoy Tim Lenderking also called for an end to the fighting during a visit to Aden, the temporary seat of the Yemeni government.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted in 2014, in what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.