Saudi coalition bombs military base near Ibb

SANA’A: Warplanes from a Saudi-led air coalition yesterday bombed a military base in central Yemen controlled by Houthi fighters and their army allies, and a website of the Houthi-run defence ministry said two pupils at a neighbouring school were killed .

Military sources said five bombs were dropped on the Republican Guard base near the city of Ibb, 160km south of the capital, Sana’a, apparently targeting air defence units and soldiers’ quarters.

They said the commander of the base was wounded. The september26 website said two students were killed, while the Houthis’ Maseerah television reported three student deaths.

Overnight air raids also hit Houthiheld weapons stores near Sana’a and further north in Sanhan, birthplace of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has allied himself and his army loyalists with the Shia Muslim Houthi fighters.

Other raids targeted military positions on the Red Sea coast and Yemen’s northern provinces of Saadah and Hajja along the border with Saudi Arabia, and a ground forces base at Makairas, 150km north-east of Aden.

Saudi Arabia, alarmed by the growing strength of the Iran-allied Houthis on its southern doorstep, launched air strikes in a coalition made up mainly of four Gulf Arab allies against the Houthis nearly two weeks ago.

The Houthi fighters and the pro-Saleh army units took over Sana’a in September and last month launched an advance on the southern city of Aden, stronghold of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. He has now fled the country and is based in Saudi Arabia.

Aden residents said Houthi forces and their allies had reached the perimeter of the city’s main port.

India’s evacuation of nearly 4 000 nationals from Yemen has been a triumph of improvisation, but some officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government say a slow response to the crisis has underlined the need for a fulltime staff to protect Indians abroad.

On Monday, India rescued more than 1 000 people by plane and ship, the most on a single day since Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 26.

India has been asked by 26 nations – including the US – to help get their citizens out of the conflict zone.

Yet New Delhi struggled for several days to ramp up its rescue effort and had to hire a ship to make the first evacuation of its nationals from the port of Aden as fighting escalated there.