Saudi-led Yemen mission expands
SANAA , YEMEN As airstrikes in Yemen intensified on their second day Friday, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were considering an intervention on the ground, aimed at giving the president a secure foothold to return to the country, while backing Sunni tribesmen to fight against Shiite rebels and their allies, military officials said.
A likely entry point for troops from the Saudi-led Arab coalition was the southern port of Aden, said the Yemeni and Egyptian military officials. But that could be a tough prospect: The city is already a battleground, and on Friday forces loyal to the rebels’ top ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, were advancing toward it.
The officials’ comments draw broad outlines for the likely strategy for the ambitious campaign launched Thursday, led by Saudi Arabia with a major role by its ally Egypt. The aim, they said, was to carve out enough room for Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee the country from Aden, to return. Longer-term, the campaign aims to wear down the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and Saleh’s forces, enough to reach a powersharing accord. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.
“The credibility and legitimacy of President Hadi erode with every day he spends outside the country,” said one Yemeni military official. Hadi fled by boat from Aden on Wednesday, making his way to Saudi Arabia, and on Friday arrived in the Egyptian resort of Sharm elSheikh for an Arab summit due to start the following day.
The forces of Saleh appear to be a key concern. Saleh ruled Yemen with an autocratic hand for nearly 40 years until he was forced out and replaced by Hadi in 2012 following an Arab Spring uprising. But he remained in Yemen and kept the loyalty of many military commanders. One Yemeni official Friday estimated that 70 per cent of the army is loyal to Saleh, including many of the best armed and trained units based around the country.
Those pro-Saleh troops have been fighting alongside the Iranian-allied Houthis, enabling them to take over the capital Sanaa and much of the country over the past months — at least 10 of Yemen’s 21 provinces.
Saudi Arabia and fellow Sunniled 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. Washington says the U.S. is providing refuelling tankers and surveillance flights for the Saudi operations, and there are several U.S. troops working in the operations centre, but the U.S is not taking direct military action.
A second day of intense airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and its allies hammered Sanaa and five other provinces, hitting bases of units loyal to Saleh. They struck in Saleh’s stronghold of Samhan, outside Sanaa, where Saleh is believed to have fled, and the Houthis’ main stronghold, the mountainous northern region of Saada, where the group’s leader Abdul-Malik Houthi is located.
At least 24 civilians were killed in Friday’s strikes, bringing the toll from two days to 45 civilians, the Houthi-run Interior Ministry said. Yemeni security officials said around 80 fighters from Houthi or Saleh forces have been killed in the strikes.
The figures of civilian and combatant casualties could not be independently confirmed.