Yemen's fleeing president in Egypt for Arab summit
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The handout photo from Egypt's state-run news agency MENA shows Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (L) receiving Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi (R) at the airport in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, March 27, 2015. Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh on Friday to attend a two-day Arab League Summit, the Egyptian state TV reported. [Photo/Xinhua] |
The fleeing Yemeni President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh late Friday as the Saudi-led Arab coalition's aerial campaign against the Shiite Houthi group entered the third day.
At the airport, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Hadi, who fled the Yemeni southern seaside city of Aden to the Saudi capital Riyadh Thursday evening after the Shiite Houthi fighters were closing in on the city to capture him, the Egyptian state TV reported.
Hadi flew to the Egyptian resort city to attend a two-day Arab League summit, which will be held during the weekend.
MORE AIRSTRIKES
On Friday Evening, warplanes of the Saudi-led Arab coalition members conducted fresh airstrikes targeting the largest military base on the mountain of Nokum in eastern Sanaa, along with several other targets in that area, according to witnesses.
The airstrikes were met with intensive anti-aircraft gunfire of the Shiite Houthi group that controls Sanaa. Huge explosions could be heard across the city while the Houthi artillery lighted up the sky. So far, no immediate report of casualties was available.
During the seven-hour airstrikes overnight Thursday, the coalition forces hit targets in Sanaa, the southern province of Taiz and the Houthi stronghold of Saada province that borders Saudi Arabia in the north.
A Houthi member told Xinhua that the strikes in Saada killed seven people and injured 14 others, which brings the death toll in Yemen to 32 while at least 64 were injured since the airstrikes commenced late Wednesday night.
The source declined to expose the casualties in Sanaa where three military camps were targeted last night.
In Lahj province, two rounds of pre-dawn airstrikes bombed on Friday the strategic Anad military air base that was taken by the Houthi group three days ago.
An air force official confirmed to Xinhua that "a number of military fighter jets were destroyed and all the buildings inside the base were set on fire."
Saudi Arabia, which supports Hadi's government, said more than ten countries, including four other Gulf monarchies, have joined the anti-Houthi coalition.
In Riyadh, Saudi defense ministry said on Friday that the operation "Decisive Storm" has so far succeeded in cutting supply routes to the Houthis from Sanaa and Saada, Al Arabiya news reported.
Brigadier Ahmed Asiri, a military spokesperson, told a press conference that no one will be allowed to supply weapons to Houthis and their operations, noting that the airstrikes are conducted to support legitimacy, unity and stability of Yemen.
CALLS FOR TALKS & TRUCE
As the air campaigned continued to pound the Houthi group, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif said on Friday that his country calls for cooperation among regional nations to promote dialogues, and to resurrect peace in the crisis-engulfed Yemen.
Iran is fully ready to cooperate with other countries in the Middle East to facilitate dialogues among regional stakeholders and conflicting Yemeni sections to restore peace in the Arab country, Zarif said, responding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's allegation on Iran's intervention in Yemen.
"Those who have caused damage to the region with their ambitions and mistakes should adopt responsible policies and use their capacities for establishing peace and convergence in the region," Zarif was quoted by official IRNA news agency as saying.
On Thursday, Erdogan said Ankara supported Saudi-led airstrikes, and accused Iran of intervening in Yemen and trying to dominate the region.
"In fact, Iran is trying to dominate the region. How can anyone allow this?" Erdogan said, urging Iran to suspend intervention in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
The Iranian foreign minister, who is currently in Switzerland for talks on Iran's controversial nuclear issue, urged the political parties involved in the Yemeni conflict to return to the negotiation table to settle their differences.
Also on Friday, Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down in 2011 amid a popular uprising, called for a cease-fire after his forces were targeted by the airstrikes.
The ex-president, who is now close to Houthi fighters, also urged in a statement the resumption of the UN-brokered dialogue between warring parties.
ADEN STILL IN FLAMES
Despite that Yemeni President Hadi has already departed Aden, which he designated as the country's provisional capital recently, the Houthi fighters are still battling pro-Hadi tribal militias in the port city.
Mr. Hadi fled to Aden, the country's second biggest city in south of Lahj province, in late February after weeks of house arrest by the Houthi group in the capital Sanaa, and stepped up confrontations with the Houthis who took over control of the capital last September.
Forces loyal to Hadi imposed on Friday a curfew on the southern port city of Aden, where dozens of people were killed in the battle in the past few days.
According to a statement issued by pro-Hadi forces "the curfew will be from 19:00 (1600 GMT) to 7:00 (0400 GMT) from Friday night."
"We urge the citizens to remain calm and stay at their homes as the street fighting continues," the statement said.
The Aden city has been simmering with tensions and armed confrontations for more than three weeks.
A government official with the health ministry department in Aden told Xinhua on Friday "we received death tolls from the public hospitals in Aden. At least 26 civilians were killed and dozens of others injured in random shootings and shelling."
Thousands of families in Aden have fled the battles to rural areas outside the city.
On Friday night, a local resident said that four huge explosions rocked the Dar Saad district, Aden's main entrance, adding that the blasts were followed by heavy gunfire.
Meanwhile, dozens of pro-Hadi tribal militias ambushed a convoy of the Shiite Houthi group in Saber district in Lahj province, about 30 km away from Aden.
"About 18 people were killed in the ambush, most of them Houthi gunmen," a military official said, adding that fighting between the two warring rivals continues near Aden.
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