Aircraft from Saudi-led coalition attack Houthi rebel strongholds in Sana’a and as diplomats are evacuated from southern city of Aden

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition attacked Yemen’s capital Sana’a through the night on Friday, bombing rebel Houthi strongholds before stopping around dawn, witnesses said.

As Arab leaders gather for a summit in Egypt this weekend to discuss the region’s mounting instability and insurgencies, a resident in Sana’a said that airstrikes continued “all through the night and stopped at dawn”.

Planes also attacked a convoy of Houthi armoured vehicles, tanks and military trucks heading from the coastal town of Shaqra for an attack on the country’s commercial centre, Aden.

Saudi Arabia television said dozens of foreign diplomats had been evacuated from Aden during the night as the rebels closed in on the city.

“The Saudi navy implemented an operation called Hurricane to evacuate dozens of diplomats, including Saudis, from Aden,” a news ticker on the state news broadcaster Al Ekhbariya TV said.

At least 39 civilians have been killed in Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm against the Iranian-backed Houthis and their allies since it began on Thursday, officials at the rebel-controlled health ministry in Sana’a said.

Up to 10 countries, including Egypt, have joined the Saudi coalition as Riyadh leads the predominantly Sunni Muslim 22-member Arab League in a bid to curb the growing regional influence of Iran.

Twelve died when residential areas were hit in a raid on a military base north of the capital, the officials told AFP.

Bombs hit the rebel-held presidential compound in south Sana’a, as well as various military sites outside the capital including rocket launchers at the airport, witnesses said.

Iran-Saudi proxy war in Yemen explodes into region-wide crisis Read more

Warplanes also bombed a Huthi-controlled army brigade in Amran province north of Sana’a, and arms depots in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada, residents said.

US president Barack Obama said the United States shared a “collective goal” with its regional ally to see stability in the war-torn state where the Houthis have been tightening their grip since the new year.

Obama offered support to Saudi ruler King Salman in a phone conversation as it emerged the US military had rescued two Saudi pilots forced to eject from their fighter jet in the region on Thursday.

A months-long rebellion by the Houthis has escalated into a regional conflict that threatens to tear apart the impoverished state at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, left, greets Yemen’s president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Sharm al-Sheikh on Friday. Photograph: Reuters

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the fall of embattled president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, accusing Iran of “aggression” and of backing the Houthi rebels’ power grab.

Amid the air raids and scattered fighting, a call for a ceasefire was issued by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, suspected of being allied with the rebels.

Leaders from the region will gather in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt this weekend for an Arab summit which will address the growing crisis in Yemen.

Yemen’s president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has denied fleeing the country, arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday, flying in from Saudi Arabia for the summit at which his country will take centre stage.