SANAA, Yemen —With cargo ships poised to launch a desperately needed aid operation in embattled Yemen, a five-day humanitarian cease-fire began Tuesday night, just hours after Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck against Shiite rebels and their allies.

There were reports of continued ground fighting in some areas, with security officials and witnesses saying fierce combat broke out about a half hour after the cease-fire began when rebels tried to storm the southern city of Dhale, firing tank shells, rockets and mortars. But no airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition battling the rebels were reported.

Displaced families who fled fighting in the southern city of Aden last weekend wait for relief supplies during a food distribution effort by Yemeni volunteers, in Taiz, Yemen. A cease-fire that began Tuesday night to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to be distributed is expected to last five days. The Associated Press

The officials and tribal leaders also accused the rebels and their allies of reinforcing their positions.

The truce will test the adversaries’ desire to enter into peace talks to try to end the fighting that has killed hundreds of civilians since March. Both sides say they are ready to respond with violence if their opponent breaks the cease-fire.

Earlier Tuesday, Iran said it was sending warships to protect an Iranian aid ship steaming toward a Yemeni port held by the rebel fighters, the Iranian state news agency said. The navy escort was denounced by the Pentagon and Saudi Arabia as unnecessary, and raised the possibility of a confrontation near the strategic Bab el-Mandab strait in the Gulf of Aden.

The Saudi-led strikes in Yemen came to a halt shortly before the new U.N. envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, flew into the capital, Sanaa, on his first official visit to the country. He told reporters he planned to meet with the warring parties, including the rebels known as Houthis, and ensure that the cease-fire holds.

The cease-fire is meant to help ease the suffering of civilians in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.

Before the cease-fire began, security officials said airstrikes overnight, at dawn and during the morning hours Tuesday hit weapons depots and other military facilities north and south of Sanaa.

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