one of them seriously, when it exploded in a market in Sanaa on Friday, a day after it was fired by Huthi fighters, a security official said. The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the kingdom had deployed 100 fighter jets to the operation, while the United Arab Emirates had committed 30, Kuwait 15 each and Qatar 10. Bahrain said it had committed 12 fighters. Saudi Arabia has reportedly also mobilised 150,000 troops near the border.
United Arab Emirates warplanes “intensively” participated in air strikes against the rebels and their allies in Yemen on Friday, the Saudi-led coalition said.
All members of the Arab coalition contributed to the operation but “Emirati air forces participated intensively,” spokesman General Ahmed Assiri told reporters in Riyadh.
He said Yemen´s air space was completely under coalition control, and that aircraft seized by the Huthis had been destroyed.
Coalition warplanes on Friday raided Al-Anad airbase, seized by the Huthis earlier this week, north of the key southern city of Aden, Assiri said. The strikes were aimed at preventing the Huthis using the base, he said, vowing to “do what is necessary to protect the legitimacy of the government” in Aden.
Meanwhile, at least 21 Yemeni rebels were killed on Friday when residents in a tribal southern region opened fire at their vehicles, a local official and witnesses told AFP.
The Huthi rebels, who are also facing Saudi-led air strikes, were travelling in three vehicles from Lahj province towards Aden, the southern stronghold of embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, when they were ambushed.
The attack took place just 15-km north of Aden, where tensions were high on Friday as the rebels clashed with the “popular committees” — an anti-Huthi militia controlling parts of the city, security officials and residents said. At least eight people were killed in clashes around Aden airport, where the militiamen were deployed on the runway, security and medical sources said.