Reuters, Aden :Houthi forces pulled back from positions in central Aden after air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition at dawn on Thursday, residents of the southern Yemeni port city said.They said a unit of Houthi and allied fighters, who had advanced in tanks and armored vehicles through Aden’s Khor Maksar district 24 hours earlier, pulled back, although they remained in parts of the neighborhood.The Houthis’ recent gains in Aden, the last major foothold of supporters of Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, have happened despite a week of air strikes by Saudi Arabia and a coalition of mainly Sunni Arab allies.Hadi’s foreign minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla appealed on Wednesday for more effective international action to halt the Shi’ite, Iran-allied fighters before they take over the city entirely.In the Arabian Sea port of Mukalla, 500 km (300 miles) east of Aden, suspected al Qaeda fighters stormed the central prison and freed 150 prisoners, some of them al Qaeda detainees, sources in the local police and administration said.They named one of them as Khaled Batarfi, whom they described as a prominent figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a powerful regional wing of the global militant jihadist movement.Soldiers loyal to Hadi clashed with the suspected al Qaeda fighters in the city early on Thursday, residents said.The Houthis, allied to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, took over the Yemeni capital Sanaa six months ago and control much of the country, which also faces a southern secessionist movement, tribal unrest, and a powerful regional wing of al Qaeda based in the center and east of the country.Residents also reported air strikes overnight on the coastal town of Shaqra, which is under Houthi control and lies on the coast between Aden and Mukalla.Earlier, a unit of Houthi rebels and allies backed by tanks pushed into central Aden, the main foothold of fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, witnesses said on Wednesday, despite a week of air strikes by Saudi-led coalition forces.The alliance of mainly Sunni Gulf Arab states has also attacked the northern Shi’ite Houthis from the sea but their advance toward the southern port city has been relentless.Hadi’s aides expressed alarm.”What’s happening now would be a disaster for Aden and its people, if Aden falls” Reyad Yassin Abdulla told Al Jazeera television.The Houthi movement was jubilant.We can say that after a week of bombing on Yemen the aggressors have not achieved any result … The victories in Aden today embarrass this campaign and silenced the aggressor states,” Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam told the militia’s al-Maseera television.Asked for his reaction, a Saudi military spokesman said Houthi forces had been in Aden before the alliance began its campaign on March 26 and had fought daily battles against the people of the city. Tanks appearing there had always been a possibility, he said without elaborating.The Houthis, with vital support from army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, emerged as the dominant force in Yemen after they took over the capital six months ago and they now control much of the Arabian Peninsula country.
