Saudi airstrikes in Yemen target rebel stronghold in north
Heavy airstrikes target Houthi stronghold of Saada, focusing on locations leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi might be; at least 18 civilians killed in overnight raids.
SANAA - Saudi Arabia bombed the northern stronghold of Yemen's Shiite rebels and other key military installations on Friday as a coalition led by the Gulf kingdom carried out airstrikes for a second day.
The military action is turning impoverished and chaotic Yemen into a new front in the rivalry between Sunni heavyweight Saudi Arabia and Shiite power Iran, which supports the rebels known as Houthis.
Heavy airstrikes early Friday targeted Saada, the stronghold of the Houthis, focusing on locations where rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi might be, military officials said. Saudi warplanes also bombed the al-Sana army camp in the Arhab region northeast of Sanaa, run by commanders loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The military official said other strikes targeted army camps outside Sanaa in al-Dhale and Lahj provinces, including al-Annad base, where about 100 US military advisers had been based but were forced to withdraw last weekend due to deteriorating security conditions.
The strikes also hit a market in Kataf al-Bokaa in the north of Saada province, killing or wounding 15 people, tribal sources said. Shada district was also struck, they said.
In the capital of Sanaa, heavy airstrikes came in waves throughout the night. Explosions rocked the city and anti-aircraft guns were heard returning fire. At least 18 civilians, including six children, have been killed and the casualty count was expected to rise.
Residents said aircraft targeted Republican Guards bases around Sanaa, including one near the presidential compound in a southern district, around dawn and also struck near a military installation that houses missiles.
The Republican Guards are loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Houthi's main ally.
Earlier air strikes south of the city and in the oil-producing Marib region appeared to target military installations also affiliated with Saleh.
Saudi Arabia and fellow Sunni-led allies in the Gulf and the Middle East view the Houthi takeover as an attempt by Iran to establish a proxy on the kingdom's southern border. Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though it says it provides diplomatic and humanitarian support.
Iran has denounced the Saudi-led air campaign, saying it "considers this action a dangerous step."
Yemen's US-backed President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi was in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh, after he fled the country by boat on Wednesday as Houthi fighters approached the southern port city of Aden where he had taken refuge.
Rebel leader al-Houthi has accused the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel of launching a "criminal, unjust, brutal and sinful" campaign aimed at invading and occupying Yemen.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters that President Barack Obama had authorized logistical and intelligence support for the strikes, but that the US is not joining with direct military action.
Pakistan, meanwhile, said Friday it has yet to make a decision on whether to provide military support to the Saudi-led coalition.
"We have made no decision to participate in this war. We didn't make any promise. We have not promised any military support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen," Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told parliament.
"In Syria, Yemen and Iraq, division is being fuelled and it needs to be contained. The crisis has its fault lines in Pakistan too, (we) don't want to disturb them."
In Saudi Arabia, international and domestic flights to and from five airports in the south including Jizan and Wadi al-Dawaser had resumed at dawn on Friday, the official Saudi press agency said quoting a statement by the General Authority of Civil Aviation.
Saudi had suspended international and domestic flights at seven airports in its south on Thursday after Riyadh and allied Gulf governments launched air strikes against Houthi fighters in Yemen.
In the air assault codenamed "Operation Decisive Storm," Saudi Arabia deployed some 100 fighter jets, 150,000 soldiers and other navy units, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported. Also involved were aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Egypt, though it was not clear which carried out actual strikes.
Once the airstrikes have weakened the rebels and their allies in the military forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a ground invasion of Yemen is planned by Egyptian, Saudi and other forces.
The assault will come from Saudi Arabia and by landings on Yemen's coasts along the Red and Arabian seas, according to three Egyptian military and security officials.
Reuters contributed to this report.
