Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded Yemen’s Shiite rebels for a sixth day yesterday, destroying missiles and weapons depots and for the first time using warships to bomb the rebel-held airport and eastern outskirts of the port city of Aden.
The airstrike campaign by Sunni Arab states, which began last week, is meant to halt the advance by the Shiite rebels, known as the Houthis, who have overrun the country and forced Yemen’s president to flee abroad.
Overnight and into early hours of yesterday, the coalition bombed the Iran-backed rebels around the capital, Sana’a, according to Yemeni military officials. The strikes targeted Houthi positions and camps, as well as weapons depots controlled by the rebels, the officials said.
Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, Iran said it sent an aid shipment to Yemen, according to the official IRNA news agency — Tehran’s first such delivery since the Saudi-led airstrikes started last Thursday. The aid contained 17.24 tonnes of medical supplies and two tonnes of food provided by the Iranian Red Crescent, IRNA said.
The agency reported that the aid was delivered by air early yesterday, but did not say where the cargo landed. The coalition has bombed a number of rebel-held airports and has announced it is in full control of Yemen’s airspace.
The conflict in Yemen marks a major escalation in the regional struggle for influence between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which also back rival sides in Syria’s civil war. Arab leaders unveiled plans at a conference on Sunday in Egypt to form a joint military intervention force for Yemen, which could raise tensions further.
Critics of the Houthis charge that they are an Iranian proxy. Iran has provided aid to the rebels, but both Tehran and the Houthis deny it has armed them.
Iran reiterated those denials yesterday.
“Claims about the dispatch of weapons from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Yemen are completely fabricated and sheer lies,” Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.
Afkham criticized Saudi-led airstrikes, saying they have caused a high number of casualties and extensive damage.
The Saudi-led coalition on Monday announced it had effectively imposed a naval blockade, days after taking control of the country’s airspace, to prevent weapons or fighters from getting in or out of Yemen. Also on Monday, the coalition repelled a push by the Houthis and their allies, loyal to ousted former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, toward the city of Aden.
Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi had declared Aden a temporary capital after fleeing rebel-controlled Sana’a. Hadi, who was a close US ally against Yemen’s powerful al-Qaeda affiliate, fled the country last week, but remains Yemen’s internationally recognized leader.
The US has provided support to the Saudi-led coalition, but is not carrying out direct military action.
Yesterday, coalition warships bombed Aden’s airport and Houthi positions on the eastern outskirts of the city, Yemeni security officials said.
It was not immediately clear which coalition countries the ships belong to.
All military and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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