On the ground in Yemen, military units loyal to ex- Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh have allied themselves with the Houthis and are fighting armed groups affiliated with Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Advertisement
After months of fighting, the Houthis retain most of the country, but the remnants of Hadi’s forces remain active, and are backed by heavy air support from the Saudis. The conflict started on Tuesday and continued strongly through the night near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia.
In the evening, the Yemeni officials said a bomb went off in front of offices of Houthi-controlled state news agency SABA in Sanaa, killing once soldier and leading the rebels to evacuate the building and cordon off the area.
That lack of services has indeed led to a crisis in Yemen.
More than 21 million people – 80 per cent of Yemen s population – need humanitarian aid and one million have been displaced in the fighting between the Huthis and Saudi-backed troops.
Due to a coalition blockade of maritime traffic, commercial goods including food and medical supplies are only trickling into the country. Medic sources said dozens of people were wounded in the battles.
Since the violence escalated in March, O’Brien said health facilities have reported that more than 2,800 people have been killed and some 13,000 wounded.
A recent outbreak of dengue fever and fears that polio will return to the country are compounding concerns about the humanitarian emergency in Yemen.
For Saudi Arabia, though, the purpose of this campaign is twofold: to protect their border and interests, and to send a message to Iran. We have our own weapons, we have our own country and our own military…
Houthi rebels are conducting closed-door talks with leaders of Yemen’s southern independence movement, in which the rebels have reportedly set out their conditions for a withdrawal from the key southern city of Aden.
The council also endorsed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon s call for a humanitarian pause despite the failure last week of peace talks in Geneva.
Advertisement
In Aden, residents reported three raids on the Houthi-controled global airport while another bombing destroyed parts of the Ottoman-era Seera castle, a symbol of the city and the latest cultural site in Yemen to suffer damage in the war.
