Sana’a (dpa) – A Saudi-led alliance mounted a series of airstrikes against military facilities of Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the capital Sana’a on the fifth day of a military campaign threatening to turn the country into a proxy battleground between Saudi Arabia and regional rival Iran.
The allied fighter jets bombarded the Houthi-held presidential palace in the southern part of Sana’a, local residents said.
The Houthis’ military outposts in an eastern area of the city were also targeted.
“Sounds of explosions were heard in the district of Faj Attan [in northern Sana’a which could be the result of coalition bombardment,” a resident in the rebel-controlled city said.
The Saudi-led aerial campaign has targeted the Houthis’ bases and missle launch pads in several parts of Yemen since the intervention started on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia and eight fellow Sunni Arab countries launched the campaign in response to a call for help from internationally recognized President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, who has been locked in a violent power struggle with the Shiite Houthis in recent months.
Hadi is now in Saudi Arabia, which shares a border of around 1,500 kilometres with impoverished Yemen.
The Saudis have vowed to press ahead with the bombing until Hadi is reinstated, raising the spectre of a wider conflict with Shiite Iran, widely understood to back the Houthis who control large parts of Yemen.
Tehran has condemned the Saudi-led intervention.
Saudi and Pakistani troops meanwhile started a joint military exercise near the kingdom’s border with Yemen, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Major General Fares bin Abdullah, a senior Saudi commander, told SPA that the drills were part of a series of pre-planned exercises aimed at enhancing the kingdom’s military efficiency.
“The exercise is not related to any current military operations,” he added. He did not say how long the drills would last.
Pakistan has not decided yet whether to participate in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen.
