SANAA, Yemen—Saudi warplanes bombed a military airbase at Sanaa’s civilian airport and struck at other strategic locations in a sudden air campaign aimed at halting the advance of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
Residents packed their cars and fled the capital by every available route, and local news outlets reported at least 20 people killed and 50 wounded by the air assault, which involved more than 100 aircraft and hundreds of bombs.
Houthi authorities responded to the air raids, which began about 1 a.m., at first with silence and then with a series of moves that seemed unplanned and panicky. On Thursday evening Houthi backers began arresting local and foreign journalists.
Saudi Arabia said it had acted in response to a plea from Yemen’s internationally recognized president, Abed Raboo Mansour Hadi, to the Arab League to “immediately use all means necessary, including military intervention, to protect Yemen and its people.”
Hadi later surfaced in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, saying he would attend an Arab League summit on Saturday in Cairo, though many Yemenis thought that was merely an excuse for his having fled the country.
Seven other Arab countries, all ruled by Sunni Muslims, agreed to join the bombing campaign against the Shiite Muslim Houthis—Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—and Egypt said it also would send naval forces.
Pakistan, the Islamic world’s only nuclear power, said it would not send troops for now; Turkey said it was considering providing support.
Saudi Arabia said it had mobilized 150,000 troops, but a military spokesman said on Thursday night that there was no immediate plan to send in ground forces.
The US responded to the Saudi intervention with low-key statements condemning “ongoing military actions” by the Houthis against Hadi’s government and calling on the rebels to return to negotiations and political dialogue.
Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking with Persian Gulf foreign ministers, “commended the work of the coalition taking military action against the Houthis” and said the US would provide intelligence, targeting assistance and logistical support.
Iran is reported to have provided arms, training, and financial and political support to the Houthis, who, like most Iranians, are Shiite Muslims. Top officials in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have boasted in public statements that Yemen is part of an expanding Iranian empire.
But Iran’s initial response to the Saudi intervention also was low key, suggesting that its unelected supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has no desire to trigger a regional war pitting Sunni Saudi Arabia and its allies against Shiite Iran and its allies.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for an “immediate halt to Saudi Arabia’s military operations in Yemen” and promised that Iran would undertake “all our efforts to control the crisis.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry called the intervention a “dangerous” move that would further complicate the situation in Yemen, which in addition to the government, its Houthi opponents and ever-shifting tribes has a substantial terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
TNS
Image credits: AP/HANI MOHAMMED