Yemen storms Aden, takes airport
ADEN, Aug 28, (RTRS): Yemen government forces on Wednesday captured Aden airport from southern separatists and attacked the city’s eastern suburbs, residents and officials said, in renewed fighting that deepened a rift between supposed allies in a Saudi-led coalition.
Forces of the Saudi-backed government have recaptured most of the neighbouring towns they had lost to the United Arab Emirates-backed separatists earlier this month before moving on towards Aden, the temporary seat of the government.
The government’s information minister Muammar al-Eryani said on Twitter government forces had taken Aden’s airport from the separatists. Residents confirmed the report.
The Iran-aligned Houthi movement stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities. On Wednesday, it said it launched armed drones on “military targets” in the Saudi regions of Jizan and Najran.
The separatists and the internationally recognised government of President Abad-Rabbo Mansour Hadi are nominally united under the Saudiled coalition in their battle against the Houthis.
But the UAE has been at odds with the government because it comprises the Islah party, seen as close to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement which the Gulf state has been fighting across the Middle East and North Africa. Islah denies being a member of the Brotherhood.
The Emirati government and a spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Western-backed, Sunni Muslim coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthi movement that ousted Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014. His government relocated to Aden.
Witnesses said clashes could be heard in Aden’s al-Arech and Khor Maksar districts, as well as around Aden’s airport, which has been under the control of the UAE-backed forces since 2015.
Both sides exchanged artillery fire across the city but southern separatists withdrew from some positions and check-points, allowing government forces to reach Aden’s central neighbourhoods, witnesses said.