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| Saudi-led coalition jets have bombed Houthi rebels in Yemen's third
city of Taiz, hours after announcing the end of a military campaign
against them. |
The strikes followed the fall of the base outside Taiz of an army unit loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Fighting was also reported in the second city of Aden, Lahj's provincial capital Huta, and the town of Daleh. On Tuesday, Riyadh declared its month-long campaign, which sought to restore the president, had achieved its goals. But it warned that it would continue to take action against the Houthis as needed.
The UN says at least 944 people have been killed and 3,487 injured in air strikes, fighting on the ground and attacks by jihadist militants in Yemen since 19 March. Not long after dawn on Wednesday, rebel fighters took control of the headquarters of the 35th Armoured Brigade on the northern outskirts of Taiz. An army officer told the AFP news agency that dozens of people were killed or wounded in the heavy fighting, and that shortly after the takeover coalition aircraft targeted rebel forces inside the base. They also bombed a gathering of rebels and allied military personnel loyal to ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh near the city's central prison, he added.
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| Saudi Arabia said its aircraft would continue to target the rebels as necessary
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The 35th Brigade has stayed loyal to President Hadi, who fled the country at the end of March as the Houthis and their allies advanced on Aden. Analysis: Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor, Jeddah It was not surprising when the Saudis said that they had resumed air strikes against Houthi fighters in Taiz. Negotiations are under way to try to find a way to stop the fighting in Yemen. But the Houthis have fought hard to reach their dominant position in Yemen, and will not give up easily. On 14 April, the UN Security Council passed a resolution that made clear demands on the Houthis. Among other things it calls on them to give up their weapons and the territory they have seized, which includes Yemen's capital, Sanaa. The Saudis say that they are trying to get the Houthis to comply with as much of the resolution as possible. But if and when an agreement is brokered, the chances are that it will be hard to make it stick. The president took refuge in the southern port city of Aden after the rebels took full control of the capital Sanaa and placed him under house arrest. Saudi diplomatic sources told BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, who is in Jeddah, that the air strikes had resumed because the Houthis "broke a promise" in Taiz. The Saudis and their coalition partners reserved the right to use air power again when they announced the end of "Operation Decisive Storm" on Tuesday.
bbc.
