Saudi-led
strikes again hit Yemen overnight
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[March 31, 2015]
By Sami Aboudi and Mohammed Mukhashaf
ADEN (Reuters) - Air raids by a Saudi-led
coalition again hit Houthi militia targets across Yemen on Monday night,
striking the group's northern stronghold of Saadeh, the capital, Sanaa,
and the central town of Yarim, residents and media said.
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"There were huge blazes in the mountains outside Sanaa. It looks
like they hit a missile depot and it was on fire for half an hour or
so. Then there was anti-aircraft fire until dawn," a Sanaa resident
said.
The strikes, which began on Thursday, are aimed at stopping the
Houthis from taking more territory and pressing them and former
president Ali Abdullah Saleh to negotiate a power-sharing deal with
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The Houthis are from a Yemeni Shi'ite sect and are allied to Iran,
Saudi Arabia's main regional rival. The Saudis and other Sunni
Muslim countries in the region fear the advance of the Houthis will
ultimately threaten the world's top oil exporter.
However, the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh have continued to
advance on the southern port of Aden, the last big center still
under control of Hadi, who left Yemen on Thursday and is now in
Riyadh with other members of his government.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Mar/31/images/ads/current/ccaonline_sda050208.png) Shooting continued in Aden during the night, a Reuters reporter
said. If the Houthis took the city, it would represent a significant
defeat for the Saudi-led coalition, which has repeatedly said
protecting the presence of Hadi's government there is a major
objective.
An air strike on Monday killed at least 40 people at a camp for
displaced people in northern Yemen, humanitarian workers said, in an
attack apparently aimed at the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia's military spokesman said he could not confirm a camp
had been hit, but said jets might have returned fire on
anti-aircraft weapons placed in civilian areas. Hadi's foreign
minister, Riyadh Yassin, blamed Houthis for the explosion.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported air raids at an army camp
in Saadeh, while Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported raids on the Red
Sea port of Hudaida. A Sanaa resident said strikes had also hit
Sanaa's international airport.
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Beirut-based al-Maseerah television, which is linked to the Houthis,
reported that raids struck a gas plant in the central town of Yarim,
killing eight people and wounding another 28.
In Riyadh, the campaign's spokesman, Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri,
on Monday showed footage of air strikes hitting what he said were
Yemeni army tanks under Houthi control as well as arms depots he
said were held by the militia.
A U.S. official said the Saudis had shown little appetite for a
ground invasion if it can be avoided. "The objective here is to get
to a point where the Houthis halt their destabilizing actions and
come back to the table," the official said.
(The story was refiled to correct the ninth paragraph to cite
resident of Sanaa, not Riyadh.)
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing By
Angus McDowall in Riyadh; Editing by Larry King)
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