Saudis launch air strikes on Yemen’s main airport
Over 200 staff from UN, foreign embassies flown out
Sanna, March 29: Saudi Arabia coalition warplanes, targeting Iranbacked rebels, on Sunday, bombed the runway at the Yemeni capital’s international airport and killed 15 pro-rebel troops elsewhere in Sanaa, military and aviation sources said Sunday.
The strikes on the country’s main air gateway came just hours after UN workers were evacuated following deadly fighting that has sent tensions between Tehran and other Middle East powers soaring.
Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has urged his Arab allies to keep up the bombing raids until the Huthi Shiite rebels surrender, branding them Iran’s “puppet”.
The Huthis and allied rebel military units have overrun much of the country and prompted Hadi to flee what had been his last remaining refuge in the main southern city Aden for Saudi Arabia.
“This was the first time they hit the runway” since the campaign began, an aviation source said, adding: “The airport is completely out of service.”
More than 200 staff of the UN, foreign embassies and other organisations had been flown out from the airport.
Pakistan said it was preparing to evacuate its citizens and diplomatic staff from Hudaida in western Yemen.
The Huthis are backed by army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down in 2012 after a year-long popular uprising and is accused of supporting the rebels.
In a televised speech Saturday, Saleh urged the Arab League to help end the crisis “peacefully”, saying the “problem will not be solved with strikes”. The 22-member League was holding a second day of top-level talks on Sunday in Egypt where leaders were expected to approve the creation of a joint military force. — AFP