The demonstration in Sana’a took place at the invitation of the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, Abdel Malek al-Houthi on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Yemenis’ revolution against the corrupt administration of the country’s fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
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Hadi flew in late Tuesday aboard a Saudi military aircraft that landed at an airbase adjoining the civilian airport in Aden.
In New York, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, a spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said the UN chief was “extremely concerned by the escalating ground fighting and airstrikes that have caused … an ever-growing number of civilian casualties in recent days”.
“The return of his excellency the president to Aden comes after an absence that has lasted for six months amid the brutal aggression which has been carried out by the militias loyal to the Houthis and Saleh on the city of Aden”, the Associated Press quoted a statement by Hadi’s office as saying.
The Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels on March 26, and began a ground operation in July.
In July, Hadi said in a televised speech on the eve of Eidul Fitr that “Aden will be the key to Yemen’s salvation”.
Since then, the Huthis have lost five southern provinces to Hadi loyalists, who are now waging a major offensive in oil-rich Marib province east of the capital.
But the Iranian-backed rebels, who still control much of northern and central Yemen, appear to have slowed the loyalist advance.
According to a rescuer, two missiles fired from the Saudi-led fighter jets destroyed four houses in southern Sanaa, killing 20 civilians, mostly women and children.
With Aden and some of the surrounding coast recaptured, pro-Saudi forces have declared Aden the temporary capital and are setting it up as a seat of their government.
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Al-Qaeda and its jihadist rival, the Islamic State group, regard the reverence of tombs as tantamount to idolatry.
