Houthis pull back from Aden
Saudis drop weapons, medical aid; suspected Al Qaeda gunmen seize military base China has evacuated 225 foreign citizens, marking the 1st time that their military has helped other countries evacuate their people during an international crisis
Aden/ Islamabad/ Beijing, April 3: Houthi forces pulled back from a central Aden district on Friday and warplanes from a Saudi- led coalition dropped weapons and medical aid to fighters defending the southern Yemeni city, a last symbolic foothold of the country’s absent President.
The Shia Houthi fighters and their allies withdrew from Crater neighbourhood as well as one of Aden’s presidential residences which they seized a day earlier, residents and a local official said.
Their withdrawal followed overnight clashes and an air strike on the presidential palace at Ma’ashiq, overlooking Crater. At least one Houthi tank was destroyed and another taken over by President Abd- Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s loyalists, they said. Saudi Arabia’s military intervention is the latest front in the Sunni Muslim kingdom’s widening contest with Shia Iran for power in the region, a proxy struggle also playing out in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
The Iranian- allied Houthis, fighting alongside soldiers loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, emerged as the strongest force in Yemen after they took over the capital Sanaa in September.
In March they advanced on Aden, where Mr Hadi had retreated, prompting the response from Riyadh. Nine days of Saudi- led air strikes have destroyed much of their equipment and cut off any chance of outside reinforcement, but failed to halt their march on the port city.
Pakistan evacuated nearly 200 of its citizens from war- torn Yemen on Friday as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif discussed the crisis with his counterpart in Turkey. The specially chartered Pakistan International Airlines plane arrived with the 176 evacuees at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
A Chinese naval frigate has evacuated 225 foreign citizens from strife- torn Yemen, its foreign ministry said, marking the first time that China’s military has helped other countries evacuate their people during an international crisis.
Ten different nationalities were among the evacuees picked up on Thursday afternoon from Aden, Yemen’s second city, and transported to Djibouti, the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.