Headlines
Saudi warplanes strike Yemen's capital, 25 killed; Iran condemns Saudi
Sanaa, March 26
Saudi Arabia's warplanes
raided military camps belonging to the Shia Houthi group in Yemen's
capital Sanaa on Thursday, killing at least 25 civilians and wounding 50
others, according to rescue personnel.
Warplanes struck the
al-Dailamy air force base in northern Sanaa and destroyed the runway,
which is adjacent to the civil airport, a defence ministry official told
Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.
The strikes also
targeted weapons depots at a missile base in the southern part of Sanaa,
which is controlled by the army loyal to former president Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
Rescue personnel who arrived at a civilian compound near
the air base on Thursday morning found at least 15 houses destroyed in
the air raid. They said they have found 25 bodies till Thursday
afternoon, and that more victims may be found after they remove all
wreckage.
Meanwhile, 50 people have been sent to hospitals for treatment, all of them civilians living in houses near the air force base.
The Houthi-run al-Maseera TV reported that dozens of people were killed overnight. It gave no details.
The Sanaa international airport was damaged during the air raid and has been shut down.
Intensified
sounds of anti-aircraft artillery could be heard across the capital
city. Residents near the airport said they heard explosions and saw
fires in different places in the military base of al-Dailamy.
They said Houthi fighters deployed several anti-aircraft guns on the main streets in Sanaa.
Mohammed
al-Boukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, told Xinhua that
"Saudi aggression is a declaration of war against the Yemeni people and
we will fight them".
The General People's Congress, a former
ruling party led by Saleh, said in a statement posted on its website
that "the Saudi air aggression violates the Charter of the United
Nations and the agreement signed by the Saudi and Yemeni governments".
Yemeni
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his main ally Saudi Arabia have
accused Saleh of supporting the Houthi group to overrun the country.
Najeeb
Ghalab, a political science professor at Sanaa University, said "the
Arab intervention reflected a united Arab position toward the situation
in Yemen and that leaves no room for any faction to manoeuvre or risk
reckless moves".
However, observers said there was little chance
that the air raid could prevent the Houthi group from seizing the
southern port city of Aden, as their fighters have already taken over
the Aden international airport and most pro-Hadi tribal militia have
started to retreat from the city to neighbouring Abyan province.
However,
Fathi Abu Alnasr, an analyst based in Sanaa, argued that the Arab
military action was helpful for now while Houthis and pro-Saleh forces
were fighting in many parts. However, he did not exclude bad
consequences that could happen.
"The intervention is destroying Houthi and Saleh forces but in principle it remains a rejected invasion of Yemen," he said.
Intensified
gunfire could be heard on the outskirts of Aden on Thursday morning,
which Hadi proclaimed as the temporary capital last week. Sanaa has now
been under control of the Houthi group for almost half a year.
In
the port city, services at all foreign diplomatic missions were
suspended. The Aden international airport was shut down because all of
its staff members have left, and diplomats of Gulf Arab nations have
already flown out of the country.
Iran condemns Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen
Iran on Thursday condemned Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes on Yemen, urging an immediate end to the military strikes against the country, media reported.Describing the move as an aggression, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said launching military strikes against Yemen would complicate the crisis in the country and kill opportunities for peaceful resolution to the crisis in the Arab country, Xinhua news agency reported citing Press TV.
Afkham warned that "the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen would lead to spread of terrorism and extremism in the region".
The Saudi ambassador to Washington announced on Wednesday that his country and its Gulf allies launched airstrikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar said on Thursday they had decided to act to protect Yemen against "aggression" by the Houthi militia, according to a joint statement.
Warplanes raided military camps belonging to the Shia Houthi group in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Thursday, killing four civilians, a Yemeni defence ministry official told Xinhua.
The warplanes struck the al-Dailamy air force base in northern Sanaa and destroyed the runway, which is adjacent to the civil airport, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The strikes also targeted weapons depots at a missile base in the southern part of Sanaa, which is controlled by the army loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The official said four civilians were killed in the airstrike on the air force base. However, the Houthi-run al-Maseera TV reported that dozens of people were killed overnight, without giving further details.