New #Saudi-led air strikes hit #Yemen rebels

People inspect the site of an air strike in Yemen's north western city of Saada April 22, 2015

Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck several Yemeni rebel positions in fresh raids overnight, witnesses said Thursday, two days after the alliance announced an end to its month-long aerial campaign.

The raids hit rebel positions close to the capital Sanaa, around the third city Taez, and in the central town of Yarim, the witnesses said.

Residents said strikes were also carried out in the southern province of Lahj as well as around the approach to the main southern city of Aden, where clashes between rebels and fighters loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbou Mansour Hadi raged overnight.

Riyadh said Tuesday the coalition had halted its month-long campaign against anti-Hadi forces after eliminating the threat posed to Saudi Arabia and its neighbours by the rebels' air and missile capabilities.

But it vowed to carry out targeted strikes on the rebels when necessary.

On Wednesday it launched new raids on Shia Houthi rebels who overran a major base of pro-Hadi troops in Taez, where further strikes were reported overnight.

Northeast of Sanaa, raids targeted positions held by the Houthis and rebel troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

And in Yarim, warplanes hit an old university building used as a headquarters by the rebels, according to residents.

The Houthis and their allies remain in control of Sanaa and swathes of the country while Hadi has taken refuge in Riyadh.

Pakistan delegation heads to Saudi Arabia after Yemen request

Pakistan's government said Thursday it will dispatch a top civil-military delegation to Saudi Arabia following Riyadh's request that it join a coalition to defend Yemen's president, promising a "strong response" to any threat to the Gulf kingdom.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to send the group to Saudi Arabia on Friday after meeting with top defence and military officials in Islamabad late Thursday, his office said in a statement.

"The meeting concluded that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan," he said, adding that Pakistan's defence minister and Sharif's national security advisor would travel to the country, along with top military figures.

Sharif told the meeting that "Pakistan enjoys close and brotherly relations with Saudi Arabia and other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and attaches great importance to their security."

The Gulf kingdom has begun air strikes against Shia Houthi rebels and the Saudi ambassador in Washington said a coalition of 10 countries, including Pakistan, was being formed to protect the Yemeni government.

The rebels and their allies had been closing in on main southern city Aden, where President Abd-rabbo Mansour Hadi has been holed up since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa last month.

Their advance raised Saudi fears that the Shia minority rebels would seize control of the whole of its Sunni-majority neighbour and take it into the orbit of Shia Iran.

Yemen is teetering on the brink of civil war as turmoil has grown since Houthis launched a power grab in February.

Islamabad has longstanding close ties to Saudi Arabia, and foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the kingdom had asked Pakistan to join the coalition.

"I can confirm we have been contacted by Saudi Arabia in this regard. The matter is being examined. That's all I have to say at the moment," she told a regular press briefing.

Aslam said no decision had been taken yet on whether to close the Pakistani embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

The official Saudi Press Agency said earlier that Pakistan, along with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan, had all "expressed desire to participate in the operation".

Egypt and Jordan have confirmed they will join Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the coalition.

However, joining the coalition might irk Pakistan's minority Shia community and neighbour Iran.

Pakistan has suffered a rising tide of sectarian violence in recent years, most of it perpetrated by hardline Sunni Muslim groups against minority Shia Muslims, who make up around one in five of the population.

BREAKING: Yemeni President #Hadi arrives in #Oman, expected to attend Arab Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh

Oman's leader Sultan Qaboos bin Said December 3, 2007

Yemen President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has arrived in Oman, accompanied by the head of Omani intelligence, Ali Ahmadi, Yemeni sources have told Ahram Online.

Hadi is expected to attend the Arab League summit in Sharm Sheikh on 28-29 March.  

Oman, which is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, supports the Saudi-led Firmness Storm operation but has refrained from direct military participation.

BREAKING: Officials : #Yemen president flees #Aden home

UPDATED: Warplanes attack Yemen presidential palace as Hadi leaves Aden:Reports

Other presidential sources insist Hadi remains in Aden, leading battles against advancing Houthi militants; the Shia rebels say they arrested Hadi's defence minister, offer large bounty for capturing Hadi

Yemen President Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi

Warplanes launched three rocket attacks on Wednesday afternoon against the presidential palace in Aden, several hours after Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled the city as Houthi militias close in on the southern capital, Sky News Arabia reported .

Sources in presidential guard also confirmed that Hadi left Aden, by helicopter, accompanied by diplomats from Saudi Arabia, from the Maasheeq presidential palace.

However, other presidential sources- speaking to the independent Yemen Today news website- denied that Hadi fled Aden.

Hadi, according to these sources, is still leading the armed resistance against the Shia militants.  

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels offered a 20 million Yemeni rial ($100,000) as a bounty for capture of embattled president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, reported Yemen telivision in the Shia-controlled capital of Sanaa.

Sky News Arabia also reported that Yemen's defence minister Major-General Mahmoud al-Subaihi has been arrested on Wednesday in Aden by advancing Shia Houthi militants,  

The news network did not provide further details on the whereabouts of al-Subaihi, or the air attacks against the presidential palace.

Five officials had earlier told The Associated Press that Yemen's embattled president has fled his Aden home for an undisclosed location as Shia rebels near his last refuge. The officials spoke to the AP just hours after the rebels' own television station said they seized an air base where US troops and Europeans advised the country in its fight against al-Qaida.

That air base is only 60 kilometers (35 miles) away from Aden, the port city where president Hadi had established a temporary capital.

Two US government sources had told Reuters on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen. 

BREAKING: Army : Yemen anti-government forces seize airbase near Aden

Boys who are part of the Houthi fighters hold weapons as they ride on the back of a patrol truck in Sanaa March 13, 2015

Yemeni anti-government forces on Wednesday captured a major airbase near President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's southern refuge just days after US military personnel were evacuated, an army official said.

Yemen has allowed Washington to wage a long-standing drone war against Al-Qaeda militants in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, which borders oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

"The Houthis (Shia militia) took control of Al-Anad airbase," following "limited clashes" with forces loyal to Hadi, the official told .

US military personnel stationed at Al-Anad were evacuated on Friday because of security concerns.

Yemen has acknowledged that American personnel at the base were gathering intelligence for drone strikes before they pulled out.

After seizing Al-Anad, anti-Hadi forces advanced farther south and were just three kilometres (nearly two miles) away from Huta, the capital of Lahj province which is adjacent to Aden, the military official said.

The Houthi militia, backed by troops allied to former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, have clashed with forces loyal to Hadi in at least two southern provinces as they push towards Aden.

Saleh, who resigned in 2012 following nationwide protests, has been accused of backing the Shia militia as he seeks to regain influence.

The Houthis seized the airport and a nearby military base Sunday in Taez, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Aden and seen as a strategic entry point to Hadi's southern stronghold.

Yemen is increasingly divided between a north controlled by the Houthis, allegedly backed by Iran, and a south dominated by Hadi supporters.

The UN Security Council, Western countries and Gulf Arab monarchies have backed Hadi as the country's legitimate ruler.

On Tuesday, Hadi called for the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution asking countries to provide immediate support "by all means and measures to protect Yemen and deter the Houthi aggression expected to occur at any hour from now" in several strategic cities, including Aden.