Yemens' Aden airport was recaptured by Hadi loyalists on Tuesday after a four-month battle with Iran-backed rebels, military sources said. The Hadi fighters had been backed by Saudi air and naval support.
Saudi-led warships pounded the rebels as they pulled back from the positions in Aden they had held since forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi into exile in Riyadh in March. Hadi was personally supervising "Operation Golden Arrow for the Liberation of Aden," said his chief of staff, Mohammed Marem, to the Arab Times.
Fighting in the port city escalated as a U.N.-declared ceasefire failed to take hold over the weekend, disappointing U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon, reports Arab Times.
"Aden International Airport and Khormaksar have been cleared of Houthi and Saleh elements by armed forces backing Yemen's legitimacy and the popular resistance forces, in coordination with and with direct support by the coalition," Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said to Al Jazeera. Badi expected Aden to be cleared completely within the coming days.
Hadi fighters also drove the Houthis from the nearby Khor Maksar district, site of some of the bloodiest clashes in Aden since the Houthis entered the city. The Saudis who support the Hadi's view the Houthis, a Shiite-led group from northern Yemen, as a proxy force for Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival. The Houthis, who acknowledge their close alliance with Iran, deny they are acting on Tehran's orders, reports The New York Times.
The Saudis view the Houthis, a Shiite-led group from northern Yemen, as a proxy force for Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival. The Houthis, who acknowledge their close alliance with Iran, deny they are acting on Tehran's orders.
The retreat by the Shiite Houthis came as Iran - regarded as their main foreign supporter - struck a historic nuclear deal with world powers that was seen as bringing Iran in from the cold but setting limits to its regional ambitions.
