Arab coalition warplanes yesterday bombed rebel camps in Yemen in a second straight day of strikes led by Saudi Arabia, which accused Iran of “aggression” across the region.
A months-long rebellion by Shiite fighters has escalated into a regional conflict that threatens to tear apart the impoverished state at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the fall of its ally, Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, accusing Shiite Iran of backing the Huthi rebels’ power grab.
Photo: Reuters
At least 39 civilians have been killed in more than 24 hours of Saudi-led air strikes against the Huthis, officials at the rebel-controlled health ministry in the capital said.
Twelve of the victims died when surrounding residential areas were hit in a raid against a military base north of the capital, the officials said.
At dawn yesterday, three airstrikes hit the presidential compound in south Sana’a, which the rebels seized last month, witnesses said.
They also bombed a Huthi-controlled army brigade in Amran Province, north of the capital, and arms depots in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada, residents said.
The conflict has thrown up a major hurdle to Washington’s longstanding drone war against al-Qaeda militants who have exploited the power vacuum in Yemen since a 2011 uprising.
Hadi, backed by the West and Gulf Arab states, arrived in Riyadh on Thursday, with officials saying he was on his way to Egypt to take part in a two-day Arab League summit at the weekend.
It was the first confirmation of his whereabouts since the rebels began advancing this week on the main southern city of Aden, where the president had been holed up since fleeing Sana’a last month.
Saudi Arabia says more than 10 countries, including four other Gulf monarchies, have joined the anti-Huthi coalition.
As explosions rocked Sana’a, families streamed out of the capital seeking the relative safety of the provinces.
An anti-aircraft missile wounded eight people, one of them seriously, when it exploded in a market in the capital yesterday, a day after it was fired by Huthi fighters, a security official said.
According to residents, dozens of vehicles carrying anti-aircraft missiles have been continuously circling the capital’s neighborhoods since the Saudi-led raids began.
The Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said the kingdom had deployed 100 fighter jets to the operation, while the United Arab Emirates had committed 30, Kuwait 15 each and Qatar 10. Bahrain said it had committed 12 fighters.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly also mobilized 150,000 troops near the border.
The White House voiced concern about “reports of Iranian flow of arms into Yemen,” while Riyadh lashed out at Tehran.
“The Iranians are the ones who are meddling in the affairs of the Arab countries whether it’s in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq... in Yemen,” Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News.
“We have to deal with Iran’s aggression in the region. We’re dealing with their support of the Huthis and the Huthis’ attempt to take over in Yemen,” he added.
Iran reacted furiously to the Saudi-led strikes, condemning the intervention as “a dangerous step” that violated “international responsibilities and national sovereignty.”
Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who resigned in 2012 following a year of nationwide protests, is accused of allying with the rebels, relying on the loyalty of many army units that he built during his three-decade rule.
Dozens of people have been killed as the Huthis, backed by troops allied with Saleh, clashed with pro-Hadi forces in their drive southwards after launching a power takeover in Sana’a last month.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese