Troops loyal to Yemen's president have captured the western entrance to the strategic city of Taiz, partially breaking a siege by Houthi fighters allied with Iran, medical and military sources said on Saturday.

At least 48 people have been killed in heavy clashes in Yemen's third biggest city, the medics and local fighters said, and at least 120 people have been wounded.

Supporters of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, have been trying for months to lift the siege of the southwestern city and open up key supply routes.

The struggle is part of coalition efforts since March last year to roll back Houthi gains and restore Hadi, who is currently in Saudi Arabia, to power.

The Saudi-led coalition has caused extreme destruction in Yemen and has left close to 3,000 civilians dead, including children and women. It has also left millions displaced, according to U.N. statistics.

Bahah told journalists that the government had prepared 1,000 men to take charge of security in Taiz immediately to avoid a repetition of the lawlessness and chaos that happened in Aden after government forces captured the city from the Houthis in July last year.