Saudi-Led Coalition Bombs Yemen despite Calling Off Air Campaign
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed Yemen on Wednesday despite an announcement by Riyadh that it was ending its campaign of air strikes, while renewed fighting erupted on the ground between Houthis and forces loyal to the fugitive president.
The Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday that its military operation "Decisive Storm", which included almost a month of air strikes against Yemen's Houthi movement, has ended.
But hours later, air strikes and ground fighting resumed and the International Red Cross described the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic."
The Houthi movement said it wanted a return to United Nations peace talks, but only after a complete halt to air strikes.
Houthi fighters, meanwhile, captured an army base loyal to fugitive President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the city of Taiz. A Saudi air strike hit the headquarters shortly afterwards, residents said. Coalition planes later hit Houthis' positions in southern Yemen with 12 more air strikes, residents said.
Also in southern Yemen, pro-Hadi militiamen fought against the Houthis and their army allies loyal to powerful former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and residents in the port of Aden reported tank shelling and automatic gunfire, according to Reuters.
On March 26, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies began to militarily interfere in Yemen's internal affairs by launching deadly air strikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
According to the spokesman of the Yemeni Army, the Saudi-led war on the Arabian Peninsula country has killed 2,051 people, most of them innocent civilians.
