Saudis ramp up Yemen action

SANAA, Yemen – Saudi-led naval forces imposed a blockade on Yemen’s ports as coalition airstrikes on Monday repelled an advance on the southern port city of Aden by Shiite rebels and forces loyal to a former president, in what appeared to be the most intense day of fighting since the air campaign began five days ago.

The move to block ports appeared aimed at preventing the rebels, known as Houthis, from rearming, and comes after the coalition achieved full control of the skies and bombed a number of rebel-held airports. The rebels are supported by Iran, but both Iran and the Houthis deny Tehran has armed them.

As night fell, intense explosions could be heard throughout the rebel-held capital Sanaa, where warplanes had carried out strikes since the early morning. Military officials from both sides of the conflict said airstrikes were targeting areas east and south of the third-largest city of Taiz, as well as its airport, while naval artillery and airstrikes hit coastal areas east of Aden.

“It’s like an earthquake,” Sanaa resident Ammar Ahmed said by telephone. “Never in my life have I heard such explosions or heard such raids.”

He said he could hear missiles whistling through the air and see flames rising from a military area in the southern neighborhood of Faj Attan, where Scud missiles are believed to be stored.

Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the coalition spokesman, told reporters in Riyadh that naval forces are blocking the movement of ships to prevent weapons and fighters from entering or leaving Yemen. He said they had not yet intercepted anything.

The airstrikes have targeted at least nine of Yemen’s 21 provinces and have prevented the Houthis from reaching Aden, the former capital of the once-independent south, where President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi declared a temporary capital after fleeing rebel-controlled Sanaa.

Hadi, who was a close U.S. ally against a powerful local al-Qaida affiliate, fled the country last week, but remains Yemen’s internationally recognized leader. The U.S. has provided support to the Saudi-led coalition but is not carrying out direct military action.

The conflict marks a major escalation in the regional struggle for influence between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which also back rival sides in Syria’s civil war. Arab leaders unveiled plans Sunday to form a joint military intervention force, which could raise tensions further.

The Houthis’ TV network said the coalition bombed a displaced persons camp in the northern rebel stronghold of Saada, killing 40 people. Doctors Without Borders tweeted that 29 people from a displaced persons camp were dead on arrival at a hospital it supports and that it treated two dozen injured, among them women and children.

However, witnesses told the Associated Press that the camp – used to house people displaced by an earlier conflict that ended five years ago – is now occupied by Houthi forces and that most of those killed were fighters.

The Houthis and security forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh had earlier launched a fresh offensive against Aden, shelling it and battling local militias, but were pushed back by at least two airstrikes, security officials said. Saleh stepped down following a 2011 Arab Spring uprising, but has maintained wide influence through loyalists in the security forces.

Yemeni security officials said the combined force of Houthis and Saleh loyalists is positioned about 19 miles east of Aden, near the southern city of Zinjibar. The rebels have used artillery to target pro-Hadi militias known as the Popular Committees. Battles are also underway near the airport. Fighting in the area continued late into the night.