Saudi-Led Air Strikes Hit Sanaa, Border Areas And South Yemen Overnight

Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition struck military targets and weapons stores near the capital Sanaa under the control of Houthi fighters, as well as northern areas near the border with Saudi Arabia and in Yemen’s south, local officials said.

Saudi Arabia, backed by four Gulf Arab states and other regional Arab allies, has waged two weeks of air strikes against the Iran-allied Houthis after they pushed south towards Aden, the stronghold of Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The air campaign failed to stop the Shi’ite Houthis and soldiers loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh entering central Aden. But the coalition says it has cut Houthi supply lines, destroyed many of their weapons and pushed them back in some southern provinces around Aden.

Overnight strikes also hit an army unit loyal to Saleh in the town of Dhalea, north of Aden, and in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Taiz, the officials said.

They also reported heavy bombardment to the north on the Yemeni-Saudi border.

Late on Wednesday warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck an army base near the Bab al-Mandeb strait which links the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea, killing five soldiers. They also struck an island in the strait, a busy shipping channel for vessels between the Middle East and the Mediterranean.