Intense fighting resumed between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the country’s southern province of Abyan on Friday, leaving about 15 of them killed, a military official said.

The fighting re-escalated just three days after Saudi Arabia deployed observers to monitor a temporary cease-fire between the two rivals in the main conflicting areas in southern Yemen.

The STC’s military units and the government forces exchanged intense fire for the control of key areas in the east of Zinjibar town, capital of Abyan Province, the local military source said on condition of anonymity.

More than 20 from both factions were injured during the ongoing fighting, he added.

Both sides used tanks and heavy weapons, and brought military reinforcements from their bases in other major southern cities, according to the official.

Last month, political representatives of the two warring factions failed again to declare a new power-sharing government following a series of reconciliation meetings in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

In 2019, Saudi Arabia persuaded the STC and the Yemeni government to hold reconciliation talks, which succeeded in reaching a deal to form a new technocratic cabinet of no more than 24 ministers.

But numerous obstacles have stood in the way of implementing the deal, which excluded the Houthi rebels who are still controlling the capital Sanaa and other northern provinces of the war-torn Arab country.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked in a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country and seized all northern regions including Sanaa.