Sana’a: Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched new strikes in Yemen on Thursday after Al Houthi militiamen pressed on with their offensive in the south of the country. The regional alliance on Tuesday declared an end to the first phase of its operations against the Iran-backed Al Houthi militiamen and their allies, but vowed to keep hitting them with targeted bombing when necessary.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched the air war on March 26 in an attempt to restore the authority of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee abroad last month as the militiamen swept across the country.
After the end of Operation Storm of Resolve, the coalition said the campaign would enter a second phase called Operation Renewal of Hope focusing on resuming political talks, aid deliveries and “fighting terrorism”.
“Al Houthis should be under no illusion that we will use force in order to stop them taking over Yemen by aggressive actions. So that will not change,” Saudi ambassador Adel Al Jubeir told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
The alliance said it had destroyed the militiamen’ missile and air capabilities, but Al Houthis and their allies still control the capital Sana’a and swathes of the country while Hadi remains in self-exile in Riyadh.
Al Houthi militiamen on Wednesday called for a complete halt to the air raids so warring parties could return to the negotiating table.
The new overnight raids hit rebel positions near Sana’a, around third city Taiz and in the central town of Yarim, according to witnesses.
Residents also reported strikes in the southern province of Lahj and near the main southern city of Aden, where clashes between militiamen and fighters loyal to Hadi raged on.
Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, political science professor at the University of the Emirates, said the conditions for an effective ceasefire had not yet been met.
“The war is not over,” he said, but “there are several attempts to find a political solution”.
On Wednesday, the coalition had launched new raids on Al Houthis who overran a major base of pro-Hadi troops in Taiz.
Northeast of Sana’a, as well as in Taez, overnight raids targeted positions held by Al Houthis and rebel troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
On Thursday, they targeted Yarim in Ibb province, where warplanes hit an old university building used as a rebel headquarters, residents said.
A newly announced division of Daesh also claimed a bombing in Yarim on Wednesday that it said had killed five militiamen.
In a message on Twitter, the “Green Brigade” said it had struck an Al Houthi vehicle.
Daesh claimed its first attack in Yemen on March 20 - multiple suicide bombings targeting Al Houthis at Shiite mosques in Sana’a that killed 142 people and wounded more than 350.
In Nairobi, meanwhile, Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdul Rashid Ali Sharmarke warned that the Yemen conflict poses dangers across the Gulf of Aden where an influx of refugees is stretching scarce resources and Al Qaida is eager for support.
