RT.png
Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen RT, Moscow, 26 March 2015 US President Obama has authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-led military operations in Yemen, the White House said in a statement, confirming that Washington had close communication with Hadi [former president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who resigned in January], the Saudis and other GCC states prior to the launch of the military operation. "While US forces are not taking direct military action in Yemen in support of this effort, we are establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate US military and intelligence support," the statement said. Al Arabiya reported that warplanes of the Royal Saudi Air Force bombed positions of Yemen's Houthi militia, targeting their air defenses. The White House urged the Houthis to immediately halt "destabilizing military actions" and to return to political dialogue with the deposed Yemeni government. The Saudi-led coalition has declared Yemeni airspace a "restricted zone." Ships in the region have also been urged not to approach Yemen's ports due to the ongoing military operation. More than 20 people have reportedly died and over 30 others were injured following Saudi Arabia-led airstrikes in Yemen, Sputnik news agency cited local security and medical sources as saying. The majority of the strikes around Sanaa hit residential areas located near the capital's international airport. Government buildings and the airport were also hit during the offensive. Reports from the ground indicate that Saudi forces have bombed an office belonging to Houthis in Sanaa's Jiraf area. A Houthi-run TV channel reported dozens of civilian casualties following airstrikes north of Sanaa. Residents said that warplanes targeted the capital's airport, according to Reuters. Houthis used heavy anti-aircraft fire to respond to the bombing. Reports citing Yemeni security services said four Sukhoi jets stationed at the Dulaimi military airbase were destroyed in airstrikes. Meanwhile, an Al Arabiya report claimed that Saudi-led strikes destroyed the airbase along with several arsenals, as well as taking out most of the rebels' air defenses. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait issued a joint statement saying that they "decided to repel Houthi militias, Al-Qaeda and ISIS (Islamic State) in the country." The Gulf states said they were responding to a "major threat" to the stability of the region, saying that their cause is to "repel Houthi aggression" in Yemen. Al-Jubeir said the 10-country coalition launched the campaign "to protect and defend the legitimate government" of [former] Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after his appeal to intervene. Saudi Arabia is planning to commit 100 warplanes and 150,000 soldiers to the Yemen offensive, according to Al Arabiya. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan are also willing to contribute aircrafts, while Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, and Sudan want to contribute to ground operations. Egypt is providing political and military support for the operation, the country's state media said. Cairo is prepared to take part in air, naval and ground operations if necessary, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has announced. Media reports said that Jordan, Sudan, Morocco and Pakistan are also part of the coalition and have offered their support for military operation in Yemen. While the Saudi envoy insisted Washington only "consulted" Riyadh, a US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that America has been supporting the military operation in an unspecified way. Houthi leaders have in turn branded the Saudi offensive as "aggression" and warned that it will drag the entire Gulf region into conflict. "There is an aggression underway on Yemen and we will confront it valiantly," a member of the Houthi political office, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, told Al Jazeera. "Military operations will drag the region to a wide war." Meanwhile, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told TASS that the UN is aware of Saudi Arabia launching a military operation in Yemen and is looking into more details. Just a few hours before the operation, Haq told journalists that the UN does not believe in military actions to resolve the conflict in Yemen. Before the launch of the offensive in Yemen, Houthi militants claimed to have captured the southern seaport of Aden. From: http://rt.com/news/244117-saudi-arabia-bombs-yemen-houthis/ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
