News / Middle East

Egyptian, Saudi Vessels Approach Yemen Coast

  • People sit on boxes of ammunition looted from an army depot in Aden, March 27, 2015.
  • People loot weapons and ammunition from the army depot in Aden, March 27, 2015.
  • A medic attends to a man injured in an airstrike in Saada, a province in the northwestern part of Yemen, March 27, 2015.
  • A man wraps the body of a relative killed in an airstrike in Yemen's northwestern province of Saada, March 27, 2015.
  • People loot boxes of ammunition that they took from an army depot in Aden, March 27, 2015.
Yemen's FM Hopes for Quick End to Saudi-led Strikes
Edward Yeranian

Egypt's military says Saudi and Egyptian warships deployed Friday to the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen's coast to secure the strategic passage, as a Saudi-led coalition carried out airstrikes on rebel targets in Yemen for a second straight day.

Military officials told the Associated Press that Saudi and Egyptian vessels were at or near the strait.

Bab al-Mandab is a critical waterway for Egypt's national security and is the main entrance for access to the Red Sea en route to the Suez Canal, a key route for shipping between Europe and Asia.

Map showing members of the Saudi-led coalition against rebels in YemenMap showing members of the Saudi-led coalition against rebels in Yemen
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Map showing members of the Saudi-led coalition against rebels in Yemen
Map showing members of the Saudi-led coalition against rebels in Yemen

On Friday, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes pounded military bases and other Shi'ite Houthi rebel targets in and around the capital, Sana'a, where witnesses said jets struck at parts of the presidential palace complex, destroying a number of buildings. Military officials said airstrikes also targeted the northern province of Saada, home to the Houthi rebels.

Some two dozen civilians are believed to have been killed in the wave of airstrikes; video from the scene showed the bodies of children being pulled from the rubble.

Coalition planes also were reported to have struck a Houthi radar installation in Maarib province and an airbase in Abyane province.

The commander of the Saudi-led operation insisted that airstrikes were being conducted with precision, dismissing evidence of civilian casualties.

He said that at present, no troops were being deployed on the ground, but if the need arose, Saudi ground troops, as well as those of friends and allies, were ready and would respond to any aggression.

A Saudi military spokesman said the Saudi-led airstrikes against Houthi rebels would continue as long as needed to protect the Yemeni government.

The White House said President Barack Obama spoke with Saudi King Salman by telephone Friday. The president said he backed the Gulf allied military action in Yemen, but that he and the king agreed that a negotiated political settlement was their goal.

Also Friday, U.S. officials said an American military helicopter rescued two Saudi pilots who had ejected from their jet over the Gulf of Aden.

The Saudis asked the Americans for help. It was not clear why their plane went down. It was also unclear whether the pilots were hurt, but witnesses said they were able to walk after being rescued.

Meanwhile, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi arrived in Egypt on Friday for a two-day summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik that will begin Saturday and will likely be dominated by the crisis in Yemen.

The rebel advance through Yemen prompted Hadi to flee the country earlier this week. His location was unknown until Thursday, when he reappeared in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia is leading a regional effort to oust the Shi'ite Houthi group that has taken over much of the country. A coalition of 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies, is trying to defeat the Iran-backed Houthis and reinstall Yemen's internationally recognized government.

Iran, which denies funding and training the Shi'ite Houthis, has slammed the Saudi-led offensive as a dangerous step that will worsen the situation in Yemen.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the airstrikes had to stop and that they would only cause the loss of lives. He called for dialogue and national reconciliation in Yemen.

Yemen's acting foreign minister, Riyadh Yasin, said the airstrikes should weaken the Shi'ite Houthi rebels. He said he hoped the operation would accomplish its goals quickly and that it would end soon.

Pakistan — Saudi Arabia's longtime ally — said Friday that it had not yet decided to join the coalition. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told parliament Islamabad was ready to defend Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity "at any cost," but did not want to involve itself in a sectarian war.

Also Friday, the Arabic television network Al Jazeera condemned an attack by Houthi rebels on its bureau in Sana'a. The network said armed Houthis stormed the bureau, with guards reporting that the rebels destroyed security cameras, smashed the entrance door and ransacked the office contents.

Rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi on Thursday blasted Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States, which is offering "logistical and intelligence support" to the offensive.

"The foolish, stupid, unjust, oppressive and arrogant Saudi regime has gambled [on the support of] America and gambled on some other regimes, which it paid to buy their support," the rebel leader said.

Houthi officials said at least 18 people had been killed and 24 wounded in the Thursday airstrikes. There was no immediate word on casualties from the Friday bombings.

Yemen has sunk into violence and chaos since a popular uprising ousted longtime strongman President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.

The Houthis, who are now allied with Saleh, have taken over the capital and have battled Sunnis and various tribes as they try to advance throughout the rest of the country.

Some information for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters.

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by: jamescheeyee from: San Jose, USA
March 28, 2015 12:00 PM
The arm industries is very happy regarding what is going on in Yemen.
If US has her way, stirring up trouble in East Asia, the arm industries will be laughing all the to the bank.

by: Mark J. Carter from: USA
March 28, 2015 3:29 AM
The internatioal arms trade is the enabler for this chaos. Until the transfer of military weapons is viewed in the same light as the slave trade the level of violence and the risk of conflagration will continue to increase. The industrialized nations, through the transfer of military and nuclear technology, have become the enablersbof their own destruction.

by: AHMED from: INDIA
March 28, 2015 2:57 AM
Saudi Arabia is the Main player for Unrest in Middle East. SA killed Ghaddafi in Libya, removed elected Govt in Egypt, Unrest in Syria and Iraq by IS, Gulf WAR for more than Ten years.
SA must organize its home First then dictate other nations correctly. There is No church,Temple, Gurdwara and mosques for other Muslims.
There is no freedom for woman to drive or go to grave yard for their father or mother.
SA have uneducated interpretation of Islam. SA created funded and finance TERRORIST GROUPS like IS,TALIBAN,QAIDA,BOKOHARAM AND SO ON.

by: MF Hussain from: Arlington
March 27, 2015 10:32 PM
Let's hope the Saudis get sucked into the Yemeni quagmire. They are the sole reason for the backwardness in Islam and the export of terrorism .

by: T G Ramachandran from: Coimbatore
March 27, 2015 9:59 PM
It seems that except oil rich Muslim countries,all are in war torn zones & in turmoil!Is another CRUSADE like that of middle ages imminent?

by: D dean from: Us
March 27, 2015 7:11 PM
War is a bad gamble , for any country. The Mid East has been a powder keg for a 1000 years and will always be until woman and man kind are all equal thru out the region . My god blesses all of you and prays for a long time of pease. If Saudi Arabia was the us , we would do the same. The us is not to blame for a region of the world to defend itself. They have to. I would take a half rotten apple over a rotten apple all day.

by: Kafantaris from: Warren Ohio
March 27, 2015 4:20 PM
We shouldn't be in endless wars all over the world -- shedding American blood and wasting American treasure in places that no longer matter. Let others fight their own battles. We've had enough.
The GOP's preference for war will only put another Democrat in the White House. And it's made Hillary the teflon candidate.

by: Christopher Hollis from: United States
March 27, 2015 4:00 PM
after watching all of this sectarian violence I am wondering why, here in the United States, the Baptist don't just rise up and kill the Mormons. After all, do Mormons don't exactly practice their religion exactly like the Baptists do. it should be cause for war, if the example in the Middle East were to be taken by everyone.
In Response

by: Xaaji Dhagax from: Somalia
March 27, 2015 11:39 PM
Sectarian violence is not new to Western Christian communities.
Catholics and Protestants massacred each other before Islam showed up in the Middle East. The persecutions among Christian groups went on until few years ago in Northern Ireland.
Mormons were inflicted barbarous violence by other Christian groups. Muslim in the Middle East are now copycatting straight from Christian sectarian violence!

by: Wazar from: Saudi Arabia
March 27, 2015 2:40 PM
well, unfortunately for the local Arabs, Saudi Arabia is not as sentimental as Israel to picture of dead babies paraded on Al Jazeera by Hamas... so don't look for sympathy from us...
In Response

by: annymous from: usa
March 27, 2015 5:21 PM
yes indeed , Saudi has the worst records of abuse.19 criminal in9/11. supporting isis, abusing and lashes a writer about his view. exploit young women in Egypt and India, a prince killed his homosexual lovers in England, prince ordered to laches Egyptian woman. now it uses its arsenal and form a coalition to exterminate a group of Shia just they are not Sunni

by: Bill Webb from: Phoenix Arizona USA
March 27, 2015 11:50 AM
Islam, Shia-Sunni had better resolve your conflict before you destroy the whole world, or the whole world destroys you. You are outnumbered 8 to 1.
In Response

by: Yusuf abdi adan from: Hargaysa somalia
March 27, 2015 12:31 PM
Houthi rebels have right to establish a goverment and saudi have taken air strike killing innocent people yemen was rulled by sunnis for a long time and left country into poverty although im sunni i support houthi rebel and ready to die for saudi dubai and there ally are wrong please leave houthi rebel to serve for yemenis
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