Aden , Yemen ( CNN ) The streets were empty but not quiet . Shelling began to boom through the Yemeni city of Aden on Thursday afternoon as we hurried back to board the boat that had brought us here from Djibouti . Aden is a city gripped by fear , desperation and want . People line up for bread , they line up for cooking fuel , and the electricity only works a few hours a day . And from late afternoon onward , most people stay indoors . That is the time of the shelling , the daily aerial bombardment . How we got to Yemen : 30 dangerous hours in a boat . Saudi Arabia began airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen three weeks ago Thursday . But Aden remains a city not fully in the hands either of Houthi rebels or forces loyal to the ousted government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi . Everyone we spoke to Thursday told us the same thing : Living in Aden these days is terrifying . We visited a hospital where doctors have given up trying to count the dead and the dying who are brought in . Officials said they believe the toll of the dead runs into the hundreds . Everywhere , we felt , saw , heard and smelled the desperation . We spoke to some of the loyalist military commanders . They said they felt they were pushing back the Houthi forces . The Houthis forced Hadi from power in January , though Hadi still claims to be Yemen 's legitimate leader and is working with the Saudis and other allies to return to Yemen . Those allied with Hadi have accused the Iranian government of supporting the Houthis in their uprising in Yemen . ' A window into hell ' : Desperate Yemenis flee Saudi airstrikes by boat . Since Saudi Arabia began aerial raids March 26 , it has launched more than 1,200 airstrikes . Saudi officials said they have killed more than 500 Houthi rebels . But the reality is that a good portion of the armaments the Saudis send in on guided parachutes fall instead into Houthi hands . There is , to be sure , a sense that three weeks into this operation , the Saudis are making some headway with the strikes . But given how far along they are into the operation , the expectation would have been -- especially given the aerial cover the Saudis are providing for loyalist forces on the ground -- that the Houthi forces would have been pushed further back . That has n't happened . Why is Saudi Arabia bombing Yemen ? The government loyalists have gained territory ; that is why we were able to dock . There is an area around one of the smaller ports that is reliably in government hands . But Aden 's main port will be hugely strategic for any potential ground incursion . Those forces will need to be reinforced and supplied through somewhere -- and the port is at the top of the list . Given that control of the city is still divided , there is a feeling that not enough of what the Saudis set out to do has been accomplished . The loyalists were frank with us . We are outgunned , they said . We are fighting a force that is superior to us in terms of its arms , tanks and artillery . `` We 're fighting them with automatic machine guns , '' the loyalists told us . `` Those reinforcements are n't getting in to us in time . '' CNN 's Don Melvin in London contributed to this report .
Control of strategic seaport of Aden divided between Houthi rebels and government loyalists . Some Saudis arms are falling into rebel hands . Terrified residents line up for bread and fuel and try to stay indoors .