At least 13 people were killed on Tuesday in the first air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition on the Yemeni capital in five months, residents said, as the head of the United Nations expressed concern about the escalation in the fighting.
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On Tuesday, Saudi fighter jets bombed several targets in the capital, Sana’a, including a food factory.
Hadi now lives in Riyadh, as do members of his internationally recognised government who travel between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s temporary capital Aden in the south.
In addition to this Abrams tank deal, the State Department has approved two other sales to Saudi Arabia, $200 million for training, and $155 million for Gatling guns that defend ships from missiles – sending the week’s total value past $1.5 billion.
A security official said on Tuesday that coalition strikes have forced Al-Qaeda out of Azzan, a key town in the southern province of Shabwa.
Saudi Arabia, which is leading a coalition fighting rebel groups in neighboring Yemen, requested up to 153 M1Al/A2 Tank structures for conversion to 133 M1A2S Saudi Abrams configured Main Battle Tanks and 20 battle damage replacements for the existing fleet, the agency said.
Tribal sources said air strikes hit the rebels’ positions across their northern stronghold province of Saada on Wednesday.
“We tried today [Wednesday] to continue to support the legitimate government. and also to protect the southern border of the (Saudi) Kingdom”, Asiri told Al Jazeera, adding that Houthi rebels fired another missile and killed civilians in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan city on Wednesday.
Sanaa is under the control of the Shia Houthi group and allies of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Additional attacks were reported Sunday night in eastern Sanaa, in which UNICEF, the United Nations children’s organization, confirmed reports of at least four fatalities, though it did not say who was behind the attack.
Assiri said the coalition had respected the truce for three months but had resumed operations because of increased violations by the rebels and the failure of the Kuwait talks.
Foreign Minister Abdulmalek Al-Mikhlafi, head of the government’s delegation to the Kuwait talks, accused the rebels of escalating the situation to make the negotiations fail.
Thirteen civilians were killed when bombs a snack food factory.
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A report released this week by the Saudi-led coalition largely cleared itself of wrongdoing during eight high-profile bombings and concluded that all “safety procedures implemented by coalition forces adhered to worldwide humanitarian law”.
