In Yemen, at least 18 people including six soldiers, a general and 11 rebels were killed as Yemeni government forces attacked rebel positions on the Red Sea coast yesterday.<br/><br/>Loyalist military sources said the assault on the coastal district of Dhubab, north of the Bab al-Mandab strait linking the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, came after the government sent reinforcements from its headquarters in Aden.<br/><br/>The government and its allies in a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the strait in October 2015. But the rebels still control nearly all of Yemen's Red Sea coast to the north, posing what the coalition says is a threat to international shipping.<br/><br/>According to the United Nations, the Yemeni conflict has killed more than 7,000 people since the coalition's military intervention began in March 2015.