Yemen’s Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and several of his ministers have returned after months of exile in Saudi Arabia.
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Badi said Bahah, who is also Vice President, was accompanied by seven ministers when he arrived in Aden, where local fighters backed by Saudi-led forces drove the Houthi movement out in July.
The Saudi-led coalition in March started bombing Yemen, which lies adjacent to some of the world’s busiest oil shipping routes, in an attempt to restore President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi to power after the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, prompting him to flee.
He said the level of destruction in Aden and other southern regions was huge and that government capabilities had collapsed, so officials would need help from their Gulf allies and other countries to address the humanitarian needs.
The Houthi rebels still control northern Yemen from San’a, but a coalition of troops from Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates took the southern city of Aden in July.
Since the conflict escalated in late March, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented some 6,631 civilian casualties, including 2,112 civilian deaths, and 4,519 injuries.
Loyalists are now set on gaining control of Marib province east of Sanaa, in their advance on the capital.
“Mas Camp is now under the siege of the coalition and popular resistance, and there is only one road leading to this camp from Al Gida’an area, which is near Al Jawf”.
Meanwhile coalition warplanes on Wednesday pounded rebel positions around Sanaa, including Al-Dailami air base near the airport, witnesses said.
Many government supporters accuse Hadi of not doing enough to resist the insurgents known as Houthis when they seized the capital last September.
Hadi remains in Saudi Arabia, said presidential officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Analysts say that the battle for Sanaa is unlikely to bear fruit soon.
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Mounting casualties will test the will of Saudi and UAE rulers to extend their campaign after helping the internationally recognised government retake parts of southern Yemen.
