SANAA: Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed Houthi camps in Yemen on Friday in a second straight day of strikes as embattled President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Egypt for talks with Arab allies.

A months-long rebellion by Houthi fighters has escalated into a regional conflict

that threatens to tear apart the impoverished state at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Saudi Arabia has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the fall of its ally Hadi, accusing Iran of “aggression” and backing the Houthis’ power grab.

At least 39 civilians have been killed in the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm against the Houthis and their allies, officials at the rebel-controlled health ministry in Sanaa said.

Twelve died when surrounding residential areas were hit in a raid on a military base north of the capital, the officials said.

Three dawn strikes on Friday hit the Houthi-held presidential compound in south Sanaa, witnesses said.

Warplanes also bombed a Houthi-controlled army brigade in Amran province north of Sanaa, and arms depots in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada, residents said.

Mr Hadi, backed by the West and Gulf Arab states, flew into Egypt for a weekend Arab League summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh set to be dominated by Yemen.

Saudi Arabia says more than 10 countries, including four other Gulf monarchies, have joined the anti-Houthi coalition.

The coalition said all members had contributed to the operation on Friday, with UAE warplanes “intensively” participating in the strikes. Yemen’s airspace is completely under coalition control, and aircraft seized by the Houthis have been destroyed, coalition spokesman General Ahmed Assiri told reporters in Riyadh.

As explosions rocked Sanaa, those families who have not already fled huddled in fear.

“Whenever a plane flies over our home and is met by anti-aircraft gunfire, my three children run to a corner and start screaming and crying,” said Mohammed al-Jabahi, 32.

“We spent a night of non-stop terror and hysteria.”

An anti-aircraft missile wounded eight people, one seriously, when it exploded in a market in Sanaa on Friday, a day after being fired by Houthis, a security official said.

The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the kingdom had deployed 100 warplanes to the operation, while the United Arab Emirates had committed 30, Kuwait 15 and Qatar 10. Bahrain said it had committed 12 fighters.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly also mobilised 150,000 troops near the border.

The Shia militants have also clashed with Sunni tribes as they push south.

At least 21 Houthis were killed on Friday when residents of a tribal southern region ambushed their vehicles north of Aden, a local official said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2015

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