HOUTHIS VOW TO REPEL SAUDI STRIKES
San’a, 9 Jumadil Akhir 1436/29 March 2015 (MINA) – Despite of continuing strikes from Saudi forces, Yemen’s Houthi rebels made broad gains in the country’s south and east on Friday, amid preparations for Arab League summit in Cairo.
“Our actions will speak for us, very soon,” Houthi official Osama Sari was quoted by Wall Street Journal, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Ali Al Kohom, a member of the Houthis’ political council, vowed a swift reaction. “We will react against Saudi oppression in all ways we are capable,” he said.
Saudi Arabia, Shiite Iran’s main rival for power in the Middle East, conducted the first round of strikes against the Houthis. In the early hours of Friday, residents of the capital Sana reported an intense barrage of explosions as a second round apparently began.
Shiite Muslim Houthi fighters and allied army units gained their first foothold on Yemen’s Arabian Sea coast by seizing the port of Shaqra 100km [≈ width of the Bering Strait] (60 miles) east of Aden, residents told Reuters.
The advances threaten Hadi’s last refuge in Yemen and potentially undermine the air campaign to support him.
The losses came as the spokesman for the Saudi-led operation, Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, told a press conference in Riyadh that defending the Aden government was the campaign’s “main objective.”
“I want to confirm that the operation itself has as its main objective to protect the government in Aden,” Asseri said.
“The operation will continue as long as there is a need for it to continue,” he said.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia and Gulf region allies launched early Thursday military operations, including air strikes, to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden.
News footage of the strikes broadcast by Saudi-owned Al-Hadath TV showed flashing lights and apparent machine gun fire. Al-Arabiya satellite channel reported that the kingdom was contributing 150,000 troops and 100 warplanes to the operations.
Sunnis make up nearly 60 percent of Yemen’s population, while the Shiites account for 40 percent. The two groups lived peacefully side by side, but political affiliations and regional game plans threw off the balance of the ideological truce, spurring violence. (T/P011/P3)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
