Aden airport had been in the hands of the rebels since soldiers of the 39th Armoured Brigade defected on March 25. Ban said on Thursday that Hadi had “communicated his acceptance of the pause to the coalition to ensure their support and collaboration”.
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The strikes came despite a U.N.-brokered truce – now in its fourth day – between the rebels and the country’s internationally-backed government in exile and its allies.
Forces loyal to internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, known as the southern Popular Resistance, fired mortars and Katyusha rockets at the village of Amran on Sunday, a Houthi stronghold which lies to the north of the strategic Aden governorate.
Retaking the airport of Aden is the first significant achievement for pro-Hadi fighters since the embattled president fled.
Yemeni supporters of the separatist Southern Movement gets into position during clashes with Shiite Huthi rebels on 4 April, 2015 in the Mansura district of the the southern Yemeni port city of Aden.
Assiri said “it’s normal” for the coalition to be providing training, equipment and information to the local fighters on the ground.
Air strikes hit rebel positions on the outskirts of the port city of Aden as well as a convoy in the city’s neighbourhood of Khor Maksar, a military source said.
“After the recapture of Khormaksar, there was a collapse in the ranks of the Huthis and their allies”, renegade troops loyal to Hadi’s predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, Ahmadi said. There were conflicting claims about which side caused the fire.
The rebel offensive comes after the failure of a UN-declared truce that was to have taken effect just before midnight on Friday.
It has also called for talks to end the crisis.
Ahmed al-Asiri, Brigadier-General, the spokesman of the coalition, was reported by al Sharq al Awsat newspaper as saying there would be no truce because Houthis were not committed to a ceasefire.
As millions face “terrifying” violence, extreme hunger and little medical aid in Yemen, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator today expressed deep concern over the “catastrophic” situation, and renewed his appeal for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian pause”.
Air raids and fighting have killed more than 3,000 people since then.
Import restrictions amid fighting in Yemen and the conflict itself have produced a serious lack of fuel that has had already begun to have a worrying impact on food distribution, water access, and health services for the more than three quarters of the population in Yemen in need of aid, the organization said.
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that Information campaigns are planned in the Somali regions of Punt land and Somali land and other areas to discourage people from crossing.
