RIYADH, Oct 24 — The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said today it had killed more than 260 Huthi rebels in the past three days near the strategic city of Marib.

"Thirty-six military vehicles were destroyed and more than 264” rebel fighters were killed in strikes in the past 72 hours in Al-Jawba, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Marib, and Al-Kassara, 30 kilometres to the northwest, the coalition said, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency.

The Iran-backed Huthis rarely comment on losses, and AFP could not independently verify the toll.

The coalition has for the past two weeks reported almost daily strikes around Marib, the internationally recognised government’s last bastion in oil-rich northern Yemen.

It says it has killed hundreds of Huthi rebels in the fighting.

The Huthis began a major push to seize Marib in February, and have renewed their offensive since September after a lull.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Huthis seized the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres west of Marib, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced, in what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. — AFP