Shiite rebels battled pro-government tribes and Sunni Islamists close to the Yemeni capital through the night before a fragile truce was restored on Thursday, tribal sources said.

The fighting erupted late Wednesday in the Arhab district -- just 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of the capital and close to Sanaa international airport -- shattering a fledgling truce, a tribal chief said.

The tribal chief accused the rebels of starting the fighting, breaking the truce agreed after they made major advances, overrunning the home base of the Al-Ahmar clan, the Hashid's increasingly contested leading family, at the weekend.

The rebels succeeded in agreeing truces with many Hashid tribes over the past week, taking advantage of a deep rift within the confederation between its historic leader Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar and tribes loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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