‘Saudi Arabia not depending upon Pakistan, Egypt military assistance’

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is not depending upon military assistance from Pakistan or Egypt for its likely ground offensive in Yemen, spokesman said on Tuesday night.

Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, in a statement issued here, however added that participation of the said countries’ militaries could become a vital addition in intensifying the military pressure on Houthi rebels.

He claimed that the coalition forces have achieved their set goals through airstrikes, adding that 90 per cent military strength of the rebels has been destroyed.

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Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared his recent trip to Saudi Arabia a success.

Speaking to a foreign news outlet, he said that a detailed discussion on Yemen conflict was held with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. He reiterated Pakistan’s stance of defending Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity at all cost.

‘New stage’ of campaign

On the other hand, air raids hit the airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa, according to witnesses. They also reported strikes on the rebels and their allies in oil-rich Marib province, east of the capital, around third city Taez, and in the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

A spokesman for the armed forces who have sided with the rebels said the anti-government fighters had lost 200 combatants – 112 soldiers, 43 policemen and 45 Houthis – in five weeks of coalition air strikes.

In a statement carried by the rebel-controlled Saba news agency late Monday, Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman accused Riyadh of "moving into a new stage" of its air war, not halting it as promised.

The Huthi rebels and their allies meanwhile advanced in the heart of Yemen´s second city Aden in heavy fighting that killed at least 20 people, medical and security sources said.

Forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi were pushed back in the city´s central district of Khor Maksar as the rebels overran Hadi´s family home and the German and Russian consulates, an official said.

Nine rebels were killed, a source close to them said.

Eleven dead were brought into government-run hospitals, the city´s health chief Al-Khader Lasswar said, without specifying whether they were pro-Hadi militiamen or civilians.

In the adjacent province of Lahj, 14 rebels and 11 Hadi loyalists were killed in battles to control the coastal road linking Aden to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, military sources said.

Farther northeast in Marib, 17 rebels and two pro-Hadi fighters were killed, said tribal and medical sources.

In Abyan, another northern province, six rebels were killed in two attacks on their positions, an official said.

The Houthis have received crucial support from army units still loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced from power in 2012 after a bloody year-long uprising.

The rebels have said they will not return to UN-brokered peace talks until the air strikes end.

The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting in Yemen since late March, when Riyadh assembled the coalition in support of Hadi. – AFP/Geo News