Explosions shook the suburbs of the Yemeni port city of Aden on Monday as residents reported a foreign warship shelling Houthi positions on the outskirts of the city.
Street fighting and heavy shelling has for several days torn through the city, the last bastion of support for Saudi-backed president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Twelve days of bombing by a Saudi-led coalition has failed to halt the advance of the Iran-allied Houthis that has triggered a growing humanitarian crisis for residents in central districts now cut off from the mainland.
Relief from outside appeared distant as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had yet to arrange a flight to deliver 48 tons of medical supplies despite gaining Saudi approval for the aid on Saturday night.
Food, water and electricity shortages have mounted throughout the country but especially in Aden, where combat has shut ports and cut land routes linking the city to the outside.
“How are we supposed to live without water and electricity?” pleaded Fatima, a housewife walking through the city streets with her young children.
She clutched a yellow plastic jerry can, like dozens of other residents on the streets and in queues seeking water from public wells or mosque faucets after supplies at home dried up.