At least 18 combatants have been killed in battles between Yemeni government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the country’s southwest; two military officials told AFP on Thursday. The clashes on Wednesday were triggered by a Houthi attack on a frontline area between government-controlled parts of Lahij governorate and Houthi-run parts of Taez province, said Mohammed al-Naqib, a spokesperson for the Southern Transitional Council, a separatist group allied with the government. The attack came despite a lull in fighting that has largely held since the expiry of a six-month truce brokered b…