AFP, Sanaa :
Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition kept up raids against Houthi Shia rebels Friday in support of Yemen’s embattled president, who headed to an Arab summit to garner support as Iran warned the intervention was “dangerous”.
Powerful explosions rocked Sanaa soon after rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi criticised the intervention as “unjustified” and called for supporters to confront the “criminal oppressive aggression”.
At least 39 civilians have been killed in more than 24 hours of Saudi-led air strikes against rebels in Yemen, health ministry officials said on Friday.
Twelve of the victims were killed when a raid targeting a military base north of Sanaa hit surrounding residential areas, officials from the rebel-controlled ministry told AFP.
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Riyadh Thursday, with officials saying he was on his way to Egypt to take part in a two-day Arab League summit at the weekend.
That was the first confirmation of Hadi’s whereabouts since the rebels began advancing this week on the main southern city of Aden, where the president had been holed up since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital last month.
Their advance raised Saudi fears the Shia rebels would seize control of the whole of its Sunni-majority neighbour and take it into the orbit of Shia Iran. The White House voiced concerns about “reports of Iranian flow of arms into Yemen” as the Saudi-led coalition declared its first wave of strikes “successful” and vowed to prevent supplies reaching the rebels.
Speaking to reporters in the Saudi capital Thursday, spokesman Ahmed Assiri also said that there were no immediate plans to put boots on the ground.
Saudi Arabia launched the air campaign with pre-dawn strikes Thursday, saying it had assembled a coalition of more than 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies.
The Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubeir, said the coalition stood ready to do “whatever it takes” to protect Hadi’s government.
Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition kept up raids against Houthi Shia rebels Friday in support of Yemen’s embattled president, who headed to an Arab summit to garner support as Iran warned the intervention was “dangerous”.
Powerful explosions rocked Sanaa soon after rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi criticised the intervention as “unjustified” and called for supporters to confront the “criminal oppressive aggression”.
At least 39 civilians have been killed in more than 24 hours of Saudi-led air strikes against rebels in Yemen, health ministry officials said on Friday.
Twelve of the victims were killed when a raid targeting a military base north of Sanaa hit surrounding residential areas, officials from the rebel-controlled ministry told AFP.
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Riyadh Thursday, with officials saying he was on his way to Egypt to take part in a two-day Arab League summit at the weekend.
That was the first confirmation of Hadi’s whereabouts since the rebels began advancing this week on the main southern city of Aden, where the president had been holed up since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital last month.
Their advance raised Saudi fears the Shia rebels would seize control of the whole of its Sunni-majority neighbour and take it into the orbit of Shia Iran. The White House voiced concerns about “reports of Iranian flow of arms into Yemen” as the Saudi-led coalition declared its first wave of strikes “successful” and vowed to prevent supplies reaching the rebels.
Speaking to reporters in the Saudi capital Thursday, spokesman Ahmed Assiri also said that there were no immediate plans to put boots on the ground.
Saudi Arabia launched the air campaign with pre-dawn strikes Thursday, saying it had assembled a coalition of more than 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies.
The Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubeir, said the coalition stood ready to do “whatever it takes” to protect Hadi’s government.
