Saudi Arabia launches Yemen air strikes

as alliance builds against Houthi rebels

White House confirms support for military effort, claiming international
mandate to end widespread instability and chaos that drove Yemeni
president into exile

The US has confirmed its support for an extraordinary international military alliance that is
emerging to counter Houthi rebel advances in Yemen.

Dan Roberts in Washington,Kareem Shaheen in Beirut and agencies

Thursday 26 March 2015

As Saudi Arabia began pounding the rebels with airstrikes, countries from
the Middle East to Pakistan were said to be prepared to commit troops for a
ground assault.
The US was providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led
forces attacking the rebels, the White House announced. Meanwhile the
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel said the kingdom had lined up
150,000 soldiers in preparation for a ground offensive, with Egypt, Pakistan,
Jordan and Sudan also ready to commit troops.

In a sign of the broadening scope of Barack Obamas intervention across

the region, officials in Washington said the US was establishing a joint
planning cell with Saudi Arabia to co-ordinate the air strikes on the Houthi
forces seeking to overthrow the Yemeni government.
Al Arabiya also said planes from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, the
United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain were taking part in the operation.
Unidentified warplanes had earlier launched air strikes on the main airport
in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and its al-Dulaimi military airbase, residents
said.
Saudi Arabia said Houthi-controlled air defences and four warplanes were
destroyed. A Houthi-backed TV station said 17 civilians were killed.
Yemen shut its major seaports on Thursday in response to the operation,
industry and local sources said.
Iran, which is widely believed to be backing the Houthis, demanded an
immediate halt to the operation.
The Saudi-led airstrikes should stop immediately and it is against Yemens
sovereignty, said Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif,
according to the Students News Agency. Earlier, Irans foreign ministry said
the airstrikes were a dangerous step that would worsen the crisis in
Yemen.
A widening Yemen conflict could pose risks for global oil supplies, and Brent
crude oil prices shot up nearly 6% soon after the operation began.
Unlike recent attacks in Iraq and Syria, the US said none of its planes or
troops were currently engaged in Yemen but insists the action is a
legitimate response to the advances made by Houthi rebels.

T
he United States strongly condemns ongoing military actions taken by the
Houthis against the elected government of Yemen, said National Security
Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. These actions have caused
widespread instability and chaos that threaten the safety and wellbeing of
all Yemeni citizens.
The US also claims a degree of international backing for the strikes
although no formal United Nations mandate has been sought.
Meehan continued: The international community has spoken clearly
through the UN security council and in other fora that the violent takeover
of Yemen by an armed faction is unacceptable and that a legitimate political
transition long sought by the Yemeni people can be accomplished only
through political negotiations and a consensus agreement among all of the
parties.
We strongly urge the Houthis to halt immediately their destabilizing
military actions and return to negotiations as part of the political dialogue.
Earlier, Washington sources said Saudi forces had acted in consultation with
the White House in launching air strikes against Houthi rebels to try to

dislodge their grip on the port city of Aden.

In a rare press conference, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel alJubeir, told reporters that a 10-country coalition had joined the military
campaign in a bid to protect and defend the legitimate government of
Yemens president, Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. He declined to give any
information on Hadis whereabouts.
The Saudi-led air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen has been called
Decisive Storm.
Officials also said the operation is intended to deter the strategic threat
against the Gulf states posed by the Houthi advance and Irans growing
strategic power, with Gulf cities coming in range of rebel missiles.
The UAEs minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said on
Twitter that the difficult decision to join the operation was necessary in
light of a strategic threat to the Gulf states posed by a growing missile
threat as a result of the Houthi advance.
The strategic change in the region to Irans benefit, whose banner was
carried by the Houthis, cannot be ignored, he said. The crisis in Yemen
and the Houthi coup is another sign of the weakness of the Arab regional
regime, and Decisive Storm is a new page of Arab cooperation to keep the
region secure.
Jubeir said the Houthis have always chosen the path of violence. He
declined to say whether the Saudi campaign involved assistance from US
intelligence.
He said the Saudis will do anything necessary to protect the people of
Yemen and the legitimate government of Yemen.
Jubeir said Saudi Arabia launched the attack in response to [a] request
from the legitimate Yemen government and insisted it would be a limited
operation designed to protect the people of Yemen and its legitimate
government from a takeover by the Houthis.

The [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries tried to facilitate a peaceful

transition of government in Yemen but the Houthis have continuously
undercut the process, he said. Based on the appeal from President Hadi,
and based on the kingdoms responsibility to Yemen and its people, the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with its allies within the GCC and outside
the GCC, launched military operations in support of the people of Yemen
and their legitimate government, he added.

In
a statement published by the Saudi press agency, the countries of Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain said they
would answer a request from Hadi to protect Yemen and his dear people
from the aggression of the Houthi militias which were and are still a tool in
the hands of foreign powers that dont stop meddling with the security and
stability of brotherly Yemen. Oman, the sixth member of the Gulf
Cooperation Council, was not a signatory to the statement.
Egypt also said it was providing political and military support for the antiHouthi operation.
An unnamed Houthi leader told al-Jazeera that military operations would
drag the region into a wider war.

Earlier, Houthi rebels seized al-Anad airbase, which lies between Taiz
Yemens third largest city, which fell under rebel control last week and
Hadis stronghold of Aden, in a renewed push for control of the countrys
south. The advance set the stage for a confrontation between Iran, which
backs the rebels also known as Ansar Allah, and regional powers eager to
halt the broadening of the Islamic Republics regional influence.
Yemens descent into chaos also complicates American efforts to fight alQaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the jihadi group that has been
repeatedly targeted by US drone strikes and is also seen as an enemy by
the Houthis.
The rebels, members of the Zaydi offshoot of Shia Islam, seized control of
the capital, Sanaa, last year and placed Hadi under house arrest. He fled to
Aden this month.
Hadis whereabouts were the subject of conflicting reports on Wednesday.
Yemeni security and port officials told Associated Press that he had left the
country with his aides on a boat from the port of Aden. They would not
disclose Hadis destination; he is scheduled to attend an Arab summit in
Egypt at the weekend.
However, Yemens foreign minister and presidential sources told Reuters
that the president remained in Aden. Another presidential aide told AFP that
he had been rushed to a secure location.
The US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at a
briefing: We were in touch with him earlier today. He is no longer at his
residence. Im not in position to confirm any additional details from here
about his location.
Michael Lewis, professor at Ohio Northern University College of Law and a
former navy fighter pilot who watches Yemen closely, said before the White
House confirmed its involvement: This is all about Sunni v Shia, Saudi v
Iran. [The US] cant be a disinterested observer. Nobodys going to buy that.
What we needed to do was pick a side.
Posted by Thavam