SANAA, Yemen (UPDATED) – Powerful explosions shook the Yemeni capital Sunday, September 6, witnesses said, after the Saudi-led coalition vowed to press its air war following a rebel missile strike that killed dozens of Gulf soldiers.
The witnesses said the coalition warplanes pounded positions of the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels and bases of splinter troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The raids hit military bases on the Nahdain and Fajj Attan hills and the neighbouring presidential complex, south of Sanaa, as well as the headquarters of the special forces.
Also targeted were Huthi positions in the northern neighbourhoods of Sufan and Al-Nahda, forcing scores of residents to flee to other areas for safety, the witnesses said.
It comes after the missile attack Friday, September 4, on an arms depot in Marib, east of Sanaa, killed 60 soldiers, including 45 Emiratis, 10 Saudis and five Bahrainis.
The Huthi rebels said the attack was "revenge" for 6 months of deadly air raids, but the coalition vowed there would be no let-up in its air war.
The coalition launched the bombing campaign when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia in March after the rebels entered his last refuge, Yemen's second city Aden.
After loyalists recaptured the southern port in July, the coalition launched a ground operation that has seen the rebels pushed back from five southern provinces, although they still control Sanaa and much of the north and centre. – Rappler.com