Sana’a: Fighter groups loyal to Yemen’s president besieged an airbase once crucial to the US drone program targeting Al Qaida militants in the country, trying to dislodge Al Houthi rebels holding the complex, a spokesman said.
Qa’ed Nasser, a spokesman for the pro-Hadi group, said his fighters launched several attacks on the Al Annad airbase amid air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Al Houthis. He said that the Al Houthis have been forced to abandon parts of the base due to the attacks.
Al Houthi rebels declined to comment on the fighting at the base, only 60km away from Aden, the port city where President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi had established a temporary capital before fleeing the country.
The base was crucial in the US drone campaign against Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which America considers to be the most dangerous branch of the terror group. American and European military advisers there also offered logistical in its fight against the Al Qaida group, which holds territory in eastern Yemen and has claimed directed the recent attack against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.
US operations against the militants have been scaled back dramatically amid the chaos in Yemen. US officials have said CIA drone strikes will continue in the country, though there will be fewer of them. The agency’s ability to collect intelligence on the ground in Yemen, while not completely gone, is also much diminished.
About 100 US military advisers based at Al Annad withdrew last month due to deteriorating security conditions.
Fighting between the rebels and forces loyal to Hadi intensified in March, with the Saudi-led coalition launching the air strikes on March 26.
In the souther province of Taez at least 30 people were killed and 24 others were injured when Al Houthi militants attacked a military base loyal to Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, military sources said on Saturday.
“Al Houthi gunmen supported by a battalion of the elite republican guard forces besieged the headquarters of 35th Armoured Army Brigade that announced loyalty to Hadi. The pro-Al Houthi forces completely controlled the areas around the brigade,” an army officer told Xinhua News Agency.
He said that “more than 16 of Hadi’s Army Brigade and about 14 of Al Houthi forces were killed during the street battles”.
“Some hospitals are not working due to sharp fuel and medicine supplies shortages. Dozens of injured people have been left without treatment.”
Fighting started on Friday night and escalated between the two warring rivals across Taez and scores of tribal militia from different villages joined battles alongside Hadi’s forces amid very loud explosions rocking the city, he added.
A government official based in Taez told Xinhua that “air strikes completely destroyed Taez’s infrastructure and a number of military bases were set on fire, causing heavy material losses and injuring dozens of people”.
Thousands of families started to evacuate from Taez province to rural areas as the fighting and air raids intensified causing widespread shortages in basic needs, including foods, drinking water and electricity, the government source said.
In the southern port city of Aden, fighting continued on Saturday in the Mu’alla and Crater districts amid heavy shelling by warships of the Saudi-led coalition forces against buildings held by pro-Al Houthi forces.
For the third day in a row, intense battles raged in Aden’s Buraija district between Hadi’s tribal militia and Al Houthi gunmen over the control of Aden’s sole refinery company located there, security sources said.
Some local residents in Buraija district said dark columns of smoke were seen in a number of Al Houthi positions hit by missiles of Saudi-led warplanes early on Saturday.
