No let-up in Yemen as Saudi-led coalition targets Sanaa airport

SANAA // The Saudi-led regional military coalition intensified its air campaign on Sunday, striking at dozens of sites in the capital controlled by Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Nine missiles struck the runway and buildings at Sanaa's international airport on Sunday morning. An official said the airport was still operational but no flights were expected as international airlines had been warned by Saudi Arabia that their planes would be targeted if they landed in Sanaa.
Houthi commanders said the raids also targeted weapons depots and military sites in and around the capital.
The Houthi-controlled health ministry in Sanaa said the death toll from the airstrikes had reached 48, mostly civilians since the start of the operation on Thursday.
According to the Saudi-led coalition, the airstrikes are aimed at preventing arms supplies from reaching the Iran-backed rebels in Sanaa which was seized by the Houthis in January.
The airstrikes were launched on Thursday after rebel forces closed in on Aden, where the western and Arab-backed president, Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, set up his administration after escaping house arrest by the Houthis in the capital last month.
Mr Hadi left the port city to attend an Arab summit in Egypt at the weekend at which leaders vowed to continue the military campaign until the rebels surrender.
The coalition airstrikes have helped pro-Hadi forces take control of areas in the provincs of Aden and Lahj.
"We killed at least 25 Houthi fighters when we ambushed a convoys of reinforcements heading from Thale to Aden," said Sameer Al Daraee, a pro-Hadi militant in Lahj province.
Houthis at the Al Anad airbase in the province, the former headquarters for the US counterterrorism campaign in Yemen, were also attacked by the coalition airstrikes.
Despite setbacks, Houthi militants and pro-Saleh forces are pressing their offensive in south Yemen in an apparent attempt to draw coalition strikes away from northern areas including Saada, the stronghold of the Houthis.
The Houthis took control of two military bases in Lowder and Shuqrah districts of the southern Abyan province on Sunday.
There were fierce clashes on Saturday between Houthi and pro-Hadi fighters for control of Mokha port, just 40 kilometres north of the strategic Bab El Mandab Strait.
The strait is one of the busiest waterways in the region and of vital economic importance to both Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The Houthis currently control the port and sent more than 1,000 reinforcements.
In the north, the coalition struck at seven different locations in Saada province bordering Saudi Arabia. The attacks forced the Houthis to move hundreds of fighters to Al Malaheeth, a district close to the border. Houthi officials told The National a ground invasion by Saudi Arabia was now only a matter of time.
Nine countries including GCC states – the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar – and Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan agreed to join Saudi Arabia in the Yemen attacks.
In total, 183 warplanes, 100 of which are Saudi, are involved in the operation, according to the coalition.
On Friday, Houthis shot down a Sudanese jet fighter in Al Hatarish district, just north of Sanaa airport. The Houthis say the Sudanese pilot is under their custody and released photos of him standing beside the wreckage of his plane.
For some, Iran and its proxy, the Houthis, have already lost the war. "In the end, Iran will fail to have Yemen as a new front for its war with Arabs and expansion in the region," Najeeb Ghalab, a politics professor at Sanaa University said.
"They [Houthis] might succeed in destroying Yemen. That's what they want," Mr Ghalab said.
Amid mounting concern for the country, the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar called on Saturday for political parties to transfer talks to Morocco.
All of Yemen's main political factions, except the Houthis, welcomed the renewal of talks and said they would participate.
"The Houthis have yet to accept the latest call for political talks and we need this to save the sinking ship of Yemen," said Ali Al Jaradi, the spokesperson for Islah, Yemen's largest Sunni political party.
Mr Hadi is expected to send his representatives to the Morocco talks. However, he will not be returning to Yemen.
"Aden is not currently safe for president Hadi. He will be targeted and that is why he will remain in the Saudi capital Riyadh until Aden is ready to receive him," said Baligh Al Mekhlafi, a co-founder of the pro-Hadi National Rescue Coalition.
Meanwhile, a series of explosions at a weapons depot inside Hadid Mountain in Aden on Saturday killed at least 52 people and injured dozens, according to two local officials. The mountain is one of the largest weapon storage sites in south Yemen and explosions inside the mountain continued.
The officials said nearly all those killed were civilians.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae