Forces loyal to Yemen's government launched artillery shelling against weapons depot of the Houthi rebels in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, local sources told Xinhua Saturday.

"One of the Houthi weapons depots was targeted by the government forces using artillery shelling that began on Friday evening and continued sporadically overnight," a military official said on condition of anonymity.

"A series of blasts struck the Houthi weapons depot located near Durayhmi district of Hodeidah," said the official, confirming that "a number of Houthi elements were injured during the blasts."

However, source from the Houthi rebels based in the strategic port city denied that an artillery shelling struck one of their weapons depots.

"The (government) forces launched several attacks overnight and only destroyed the civilians' houses and farms in Hodeidah," an official of the Houthi authority in Hodeidah said anonymously.

As the main Yemeni port city along the coast of the Red Sea, Hodeidah is the key lifeline entry of most Yemen's commercial imports and humanitarian aid.

The grinding war of more than five years has pushed over 20 million people to the verge of starvation.

The Iran-allied Houthi rebels control much of Hodeidah while the Saudi-backed government troops have advanced to its southeastern districts of the strategic port city.