Saudis and allies attack Houthis in Yemen

Saudi Defence Minister Mohammad bin Salman coordinated the strikes from the Royal Saudi Air Force operations centre near Riyadh (Photo SPA]

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of regional allies have launched a military operation in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, who deposed the US-backed Yemeni president last month.
Adel al-Jubair, Saudi ambassador to the US, said on Wednesday that a coalition consisting of 10 countries, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), had begun airstrikes at 7pm Eastern time.
"The operation is to defend and support the legitimate government of Yemen and prevent the radical Houthi movement from taking over the country," Jubair told reporters in Washington.
At least 17 civilians were killed in Sanaa during the overnight offensive, civil defence sources told AFP news agency.
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV channel reported that 100 Saudi warplanes were involved in the attacks. 
An Egyptian official told AFP news agency that Egypt would participate in the Yemen offensive. Saudi Arabian newsagency SPA said that also Pakistan, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan, have "expressed a desire to participate in the operation" which has got the name "Firmness Storm".

Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, (but not including Yemen's neighbour Oman), announced earlier a decision to "answer the call of President Hadi to protect Yemen and his people from the aggression of the Houthi militia".


Military sources said rebel positions were hit at various locations in Sanaa, including at al-Dulaimi airbase and the adjacent international airport in north Sanaa, as well as the presidential complex seized by the rebels in January.
Huge explosions were heard in Sanaa as strikes hit the airbase at Sanaa airport and other locations in the capital, an AFP correspondent reported. In the south, residents reported hearing large blasts at Al-Anad main airbase, north of Aden, which was seized by anti-government forces on Wednesday.



The Houthis confirmed in a statement to reporters that Saudi jets hit a military base in Sanaa, known as al-Duleimi. They said they fired anti-aircraft missiles in response. Mohamed Al-Bokhaiti, a member of the Houthi political office, called the military action as a declaration of war on Yemen.
Hakim Al Masmari, Yemen Post editor, said that "people are very terrified". "It's [bombing] not in any particular location in Sanaa, it's throughout the capital," he said.

 Jubeir said the assaults had been launched in response to a direct request by Hadi, who has been holed up in Aden with loyalist forces since he fled Sanaa in February. Hadi remains in his base in Aden and was "in high spirits", one of his aides said after the operation began. Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported that the Saudi-led air strikes had hit a residential neighborhood north of Sanaa and caused dozens of casualties. It also urged medical personnel to report to hospitals in Sanaa immediately.


The White House said in a statement late on Wednesday the United States supported the operation, led by the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and that President Barack Obama had authorized U.S. "logistical and intelligence support". 

 

 

A widening Yemen conflict could pose risks for global oil supplies, and Brent crude oil prices shot up nearly 6 percent soon after the operation began.
Unidentified warplanes had earlier launched air strikes on the main airport in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and its al Dulaimi military airbase, residents said.
That came soon after Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, announced the operation.
"We will do whatever it takes in order to protect the legitimate government of Yemen from falling," Jubeir told a news conference.
Yemen's slide towards civil war has made it a crucial front in mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia's rivalry with Shi'ite Iran, which Riyadh accuses of stirring up sectarian strife throughout the region and in Yemen with its support for the Houthis.
The crisis now risks spiraling into a proxy war with Iran backing the Houthis, and Saudi Arabia and the other regional Sunni Muslim monarchies supporting Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Fighting has spread across the Arabian peninsula country since last September, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and advanced into Sunni Muslim areas, forcing Hadi out of the capital.
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Jubeir said the assaults had been launched in response to a direct request by Hadi, who supported Washington's campaign of deadly drone strikes on a powerful al Qaeda branch based in Yemen. He has been holed up in Aden with loyalist forces since he fled Sanaa in February.
Hadi remains in his base in Aden and was "in high spirits", one of his aides said after the operation began.
A senior leader of Yemen's Houthi movement said the Saudi air strikes amounted to aggression against his country and warned they would set off a "wide war" in the region.
Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported that the Saudi-led air strikes had hit a residential neighborhood north of Sanaa and caused dozens of casualties. It also urged medical personnel to report to hospitals in Sanaa immediately.
No independent verification of any casualties was immediately possible.
The White House said in a statement late on Wednesday the United States supported the operation, led by the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and that President Barack Obama had authorized U.S. "logistical and intelligence support".