DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Fighting around the Yemen port city of Hodeida has resumed as a Saudi-led coalition tries to retake it from Shiite rebels known as Houthis.

Witnesses described heavy fighting to the city's south on Thursday morning, near its airport.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's exiled government began the assault on the port city of Hodeida (hoh-DY'-duh) on Wednesday.

Hodeida is the main entry for food into a country already on the brink of famine. That has raised warnings from aid agencies that Yemen's humanitarian disaster could deepen.