A ship carrying desperately needed relief supplies docked in Aden on Tuesday, the first UN vessel to reach the southern Yemeni city in four months of fighting, its governor said.

“This is the first boat carrying the UN flag to dock in Aden since the war began” in late March, governor Nayef al-Bakri told reporters at the Aden refinery port.

The ship is chartered by the World Food Programme, which has tried repeatedly to deliver aid to the port city in recent weeks, but failed due to security reasons.

“This will be the first WFP chartered ship to reach the port in Aden,” WFP spokeswoman Reem Nada told AFP shortly before the ship entered the harbour.

Vessels sent by the United Arab Emirates managed to reach Aden in May.

A humanitarian ceasefire declared by the UN earlier this month failed to take hold.

However, over the past week, forces loyal to exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi have recaptured most of Aden from the Houthis.

On Tuesday, pro-government forces were still reportedly battling Houthi militias and the group’s allies in the city’s northern surburbs.

In recent days, the Houthis and their allies have been pushed from the region’s military headquarters and the naval base, according to a spokesman for the pro-government Popular Resistance.

After losing control of parts of Aden, Houthis and their allies started shelling the neighbourhood of Dar Saad, killing nearly 100 people and wounding around 200, a spokesman for Medicins Sans Frontieres told the Associated Press. Middle East Monitor