Yemeni warplane fleet

destroyed in raids, Saudis say

Object 1

With his country embattled in conflict, Yemen President Hadi calls the Shiite group,
which has taken over large parts of the country, Iranian "puppets." (Reuters)

By Ali al-Mujahed and Hugh Naylor March 29 at 7:29 AM

SANAA, Yemen The first three days of airstrikes by a coalition led by Saudi
Arabia have destroyed Yemens fleet of fighter aircraft and crippled military
command centers, dealing a blow to Houthi insurgents, a senior defense official in
Riyadh said.
In a statement published Saturday evening by the Saudi Press Agency, Brig. Gen.
Ahmed bin Hasan Asiri said rebels are no longer possessing jet fighters. The
coalition air raids also destroyed most of the groups arsenal of ground-to-ground
ballistic missiles and command-and-control centers, he said.

Analysts say the attacks are part of strategy to eliminate the air defenses, weapons
arsenals and communication lines of the Shiite insurgents in a bid to ease the way
for a potential land invasion. Many residents in the destitute Arabian Peninsula
nation fear a ground assault, and Asiri hinted that the Saudi-led campaign would
continue, telling the news agency that the first phase of attacks had been
achieved.
Arab leaders vowed Saturday to back the embattled Yemeni president as the
coalition intensified airstrikes on Shiite rebel targets across Yemen.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, addressing the summit, said leaders
agreed to create a joint Arab military force. The proposed force, according to the
Associated Press, will have 40,000 elite troops and will be based in Cairo or the
Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Saudi airstrikes in Yemen VIEW GRAPHIC

The rebels, known as Houthis, pressed on despite the airstrikes and pounded the

southern city of Aden with tank fire, witnesses reported. One politician described a
situation of great chaos in the city, a key prize in the battle. Hospitals filled with
the wounded. Dozens of diplomats fled the city.
The Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television network reported airstrikes overnight
Saturday that targeted roads connecting the capital, Sanaa, with the Saada province
in the north, which is a Houthi stronghold. The port and airport of the western
Hodeida province also were hit by airstrikes, residents said. The Houthis control
that province as well as Sanaa, where streets have been emptied of people because
of the air raids. Residents of the capital increasingly fear fuel shortages, with lines
growing at gas stations.
[What the bombing of Yemen means for the Middle East]
A key player in the Yemen fighting, Ali Abdullah Saleh, called for a truce Saturday
to end the airstrikes. Despite stepping down as the countrys leader in 2012, Saleh is
widely thought to be using military units that are still loyal to him to aid the Houthi
assaults against the forces of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
In a televised address, he pleaded for an end to the fighting, criticized Hadi and said
neither he nor anyone in his family, including his son Ahmed, sought to take power
in Yemen.
Lets have dialogue and pursue elections, and I promise you that neither I nor any

one of my relatives will run for the presidency, he said.

Hadi slipped out of Aden and sought refuge in Saudi Arabia this past week after
struggling for months to maintain power as Houthi rebels seized increasing areas of
the country. The Saudis and their allies think that the Shiite rebels are backed by
Iran and that Tehran is trying to exert control over a country that had been an ally
of Riyadh and Washington.

Saudi Arabia leads airstrikes in Yemen

View Photos

The campaign, with a coalition of Arab nations, is an effort to dislodge Houthi

rebels sweeping through Yemen.

Support for Hadi was firmly voiced by leaders attending the Arab League summit
Saturday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh a rare sign of unity in a
region rife with divisions.
The rulers of Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, among others, billed Yemens
spiral into chaos as a grave threat to the Middle East, and on Saturday, officials
submitted a draft resolution to create a joint Arab military force to respond to the
regions growing crises.
[Chart: Yemens chaos, explained]
The details of any potential security regime remained unclear. But with battles
raging across Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the show of Arab support for the antiHouthi offensive underscored a readiness by regional states to intercede in

neighboring countries beset by violence.

The Arab nation has passed through many phases, none of which has posed as

much of a threat as the one were experiencing now, Sissi said at the summit.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia, in a speech to the delegates, vowed to continue
military operations in Yemen until stability is returned, a reference to restoring
Hadis authority.
The Saudis are leading a coalition of about 10 countries that have pledged
warplanes and ships for the Yemen fight. Several countries, including Egypt, have
said they are prepared to commit ground forces to the operation if necessary.
Yemens foreign minister, Riyadh Yaseen, told reporters at the summit that it was
very possible that ground troops would be required to push back the rebels,
Reuters news agency reported.
Hadi also addressed the summit, expressing his approval of the coalition attacks,
which began Thursday, and declaring that the operation must continue. He
characterized the rebels who effectively toppled his government in Sanaa in
February as stooges of Iran.
The remarks highlighted the escalating tensions between the regions major rivals:
Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran. Tehran has increased its support for the
Houthis, who follow the Zaydi sect of Shiite Islam. The Saudis and the Iranians are
already backing warring parties in other destructive regional conflicts such as the
Syrian civil war.
Yemen, the poorest Arab country, has struggled not only with the conflict between
the Shiite rebels and pro-government forces, but also with attacks by al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, a Yemeni wing of the Islamic State militant

group asserted responsibility for suicide bombings this month that killed nearly 140
people in the capital.
Residents of Sanaa, Aden and Hodeida said the frequency of airstrikes increased
late Friday and early Saturday, with the targets including military installations
controlled by the Houthis as well as military units loyal to Saleh. Many Yemenis
accuse Saleh of helping the Houthis take over Sanaa in September and during an
offensive that has brought the insurgents to the northern outskirts of Aden.
Riad Kahwaji, head of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military
Analysis, said the coalition attacks have targeted air defenses, arms depots and
communications lines that support the Houthis. The intention, he said, is to
prepare the way for an imminent ground offensive.
Its a classic move of taking out air defenses, ensuring air superiority and taking

out command-and-control and communication posts, he said. The Houthi forces

would probably crumble in the face of a ground assault by militaries such as
Egypts, which are more organized and heavily armed and have received significant
U.S. assistance, Kahwaji added.
Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, said the Houthis would
struggle to repel a ground offensive in places such as Aden and the southern city of
Taiz, in part because of a lack of support from local populations. The Houthis are
from the north, which has long been dominated by their fellow Zaydi Shiites, unlike
the predominantly Sunni south.
I think theyre losing this battle, Khatib said of the Houthis, adding that Iran

would probably hesitate to come to the rebels defense in the event of a Saudi-led
ground assault.
They are useful allies of Iran, but they are not seen as indispensable by Iran, she

said.
Airstrikes early Saturday hit the Attan air base in the capital for a second straight
day, residents said.
In Hodeida, residents said that at least two air-defense systems had been attacked,
including one near a port facility. Yemeni officials and Houthi opponents claim that
Iranian weapons have been shipped to the rebels throughout the area. Houthi
officials deny receiving Iranian weapons.
In Aden, one attack apparently carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on an
ammunition depot next to the city killed and wounded scores of people, according
to residents and physicians.
Al-Khadher Laswar, general manager of the Health Ministry office in Aden, said
nine people suffered third-degree burns in the attack and five were injured by
falling debris. He said he had no accurate figures on the number of people killed
because the risk of secondary explosions made it too dangerous to approach the
site.
He added that 61 people were killed and nearly 500 wounded in clashes in Aden
and surrounding areas in recent days. Aden residents say that Houthi rebels and
pro-Saleh military units control the citys airport, and they cite rising lawlessness
that has resulted in looting.
Basem al-Hakimi, a politician in Aden who opposes the Houthis, described the
situation as chaotic. Everyone is trying to get weapons to fight the Houthis. Its
madness, he said.
The Saudi Press Agency reported that the desert kingdoms navy had evacuated 86
diplomats from Aden.

Video footage showed people looting what appeared to be Hadis abandoned

residence in Aden. A voice-over said, This is the house of Abed Rabbo Mansour
Hadi, as looters were seen carrying off items such as living room chairs.
Qasem Dawood Ali, a worker at a nongovernmental organization in Aden, said
bodies were lying in the streets as hospitals filled with the wounded.
Right now there is heavy bombing from Houthi tanks near the airport and you can

also hear the explosions coming from the weapons-storage facility, he said by
telephone. Aden is falling apart.
Naylor reported from Beirut. Erin Cunningham in Cairo and Heba Habib in
Sharm el-Sheikh contributed to this report.
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