Saudi-Backed Coalition in Yemen Upended in Deadly Factional Fighting
New York said that Our staff are forced to shelter at home and in bunkers while gun battles rage outside.
30, 2018
AL MUKALLA, Yemen — A simmering split within the Saudi-led coalition
that has been fighting rebels in Yemen since 2015 exploded into deadly combat this week, paralyzing the southern city of Aden, the government’s temporary seat of power.
Saudi Arabia’s official press agency, quoting a coalition statement, said
that the coalition had been "watching with regret all over the past two days that all parties have not responded to the calls for calm" and that it had requested "all parties to speed up the cessation of all clashes immediately." Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box.
After two days of what witnesses and local news reports called fierce shelling
and shooting, Mr. Hadi’s forces in Aden crumbled on Tuesday, and the separatists seized the area around the presidential palace where his prime minister and other officials had been staying.
In an interview with France 24’s Arabic-language channel, the president of the council, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, said his fighters were still "engaged
in a mission with the Saudi-led coalition." Whether the council’s rift with Mr. Hadi’s forces could be mended was uncertain at best.
Hani bin Bourek, a senior member of the Southern Transitional Council, said the separatists
had pulled their forces back after mediation by other members of the Saudi-led coalition.