Al Mukalla: Saudi-led Arab coalition fighter jets carried out several air sorties, hitting military sites in Al Houthi-held Sana’a shortly after a 72-hour truce came to end and heavy clashes raged on various fronts across the country. Residents in Sana’a said on Sunday that heavy explosions rocked the city in morning after the jets struck Al Nahden mountain, a suspected arms depot, Al Hafa military camp and other military locations controlled by Al Houthis.
A UN-proposed ceasefire meant to give a brief respite from fighting to open up humanitarian corridors for vital aid to reach war-torn cities was put into place on Wednesday midnight.
The truce remained largely holding despite reports about heavy clashes between the government forces and Al Houthis on several fronts.
On fronts, army commanders loyal to president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, said on Sunday that their fighters fought off fresh assaults by Iran-backed Al Houthis on their positions in Taiz, Bayhan, Serwah and in some battlefields in the northern province of Jawf.
Yemen’s government on Saturday night condemned Al Houthi’s banning of UNICEF Yemen delegation from entering the city of Taiz to assess humanitarian situation.
Abdul Malik Al Mikhalfi, foreign minister, said on Twitter that the move contradicts Al Houthis allegations that they do not impose a siege on Yemen’s third largest city. Local authorities in the city said that the UNICEF delegation, led by Julien Harneis, the UN body’s representative in Yemen, drove on “rough and rugged” roads to reach the city before Al Houthis blocking them from entering the city.
Ahmad Bin Daghar, prime minister, and some cabinet ministers returned to the city of Aden, the government’s temporary base, after visiting provinces of Hadramout and the remote island of Socotra.
Bin Daghar said his government would work on addressing long power cuts in Aden and spread of cholera cases in the city.
Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Aden, local security authorities said on Saturday that as many as 200 illegal African immigrants to were sent back home on ships. The African immigrants, mainly Ethiopians, were part of thousands of refugees who sailed to Yemen despite the raging conflict. The internationally recognised government said that the Africans are vulnerable to radicalisation by Al Qaida or can be wooed into joining the depleted Al Houthi movement. Aden police said in a statement that more 1000 migrants have been deported since early this year and thousands others have been detained and would be deported in groups.
