|
 Artillery and rocket fire struck the area on the approaches to the
city, Hadi's fighters said, after the Houthis made a fresh advance
from the east along an Arabian Sea coast road.
Aden is Hadi's last bastion of control in Yemen and remains besieged
despite a fifth day of Saudi-led air strikes aimed at checking the
Houthi gains.
North of Aden, residents in the city of Dhalea said Houthi fighters
backed by allied army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah
Saleh shelled militia opponents with tanks and artillery. Five
civilians were killed in heavy street fighting, they said.
Saudi Arabia, backed by regional Sunni Muslim allies, launched an
air campaign to support Hadi after he withdrew last month from the
capital to Aden. He left Yemen on Thursday to attend an Arab summit
and has not returned.
The fighting has brought civil war to the Arabian Peninsula's
poorest country, which was already sliding into chaos with a growing
secessionist movement in the south and a covert U.S. drone campaign
- now stalled - against al Qaeda in the east.
The growing power of the Houthis, part of a Shi'ite minority that
makes up about a third of the population, also means Yemen has
become the latest stage for Saudi Arabia's power struggle with Iran.
 The two regional rivals support opposing sides in Syria's grinding
civil war and in neighboring Lebanon. Tehran also supports and arms
Shi'ite militias in Iraq, although it denies Riyadh's accusations
that it supports Yemen's Houthis militarily.
In the capital Sanaa, controlled by the Houthis, jets struck around
the presidential palace next to the diplomatic quarter early on
Monday, as well as a weapons depot in the Nugum mountain overlooking
the capital.
"It was a night from hell," a Yemeni diplomat said.
"PLAYING WITH FIRE"
Speaking at the Arab summit in Egypt on Saturday, Hadi described the
Houthi movement as "Iran's puppet" and accused it of destroying
Yemen through what he called its political immaturity. Hadi left the
summit in the Saudi King Salman's plane and is now staying in the
Saudi capital.
Iran's former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, described the
Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen as a dangerous mistake. "They
have started playing with fire," Fars News agency quoted him as
saying.
The Arab leaders agreed at their meeting in Egypt to form a unified
military force to counter growing regional security threats such as
the Yemen conflict.
But working out the logistics of the force will be a protracted
process and Yemen's rugged geography, internal power struggles and
recent history all present major challenges to any military
campaign.
Just four years after the 1990 unification of North and South Yemen,
civil war erupted when southerners tried to break away, but were
defeated by Saleh's northern forces.
[to top of second column] |
In the 1960s, intervention by Saudi Arabia and Egypt on opposing
sides of a civil war in North Yemen led to a long and damaging
military stalemate.
Saudi Arabia says it is focusing for now on air strikes against the
Houthis, rather than a ground campaign, promising to increase
pressure on them over coming days.
It says it has support from eight other Arab states as well as
Pakistan, although it is unclear how much of a role many of those
countries are playing. Pakistan said it had not formally decided
what support to offer.
The White House says it will not join directly in military
operations but has set up a cell to coordinate U.S. military and
intelligence support to the operation. U.S. officials said they were
sharing intelligence information on a limited basis so far.
On Sunday, sources said Yemeni exports of liquefied natural gas
(LNG) were running as normal despite the shutdown of major seaports.
But French oil firm Total said on Monday operations at its Block 10
have been reduced, with gas production maintained only for local
power generation and to supply nearby areas.
Several countries have been evacuating citizens from Yemen in recent
days. Around 500 Pakistani nationals were flown out of the Red Sea
port of Hodeida on Sunday, and India said on Monday it was preparing
to fly out 500 people from Sanaa.
Saleh was forced to step down after a 2011 popular uprising, ending
more than three decades in power, but still wields influence in the
Arabian Peninsula's poorest country and has the loyalty of much of
the army.
He has called for an end to the Saudi campaign, promising in return
not to stand again for the presidency. But he has no direct
authority over the Houthi fighters who represent a Shi'ite minority
that makes up a third of Yemen's population.
(Additional reporting by William Maclean and Noah Browning in Dubai;
Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Giles Elgood)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
