SANAA – Yemen’s beleaguered government said Saudi-led airstrikes would not last long on the second day of a Gulf Arab-led campaign against the Iranian-allied fighters that could escalate a proxy conflict spreading through the region.
Warplanes targeted Ansarullah forces controlling Yemen’s capital and their northern heartland on Friday and, in a boost for Riyadh, fellow monarchy Morocco said it would join the rapidly-assembled coalition against the anti-Western group.
Fighters, also called Houthis, advanced south despite the airstrikes and Pakistan, named by Saudi Arabia on Thursday as a partner, said it had made no decision on whether to contribute.
Riyadhs move is the latest front in a growing regional contest for power with Iran that is also playing out in Syria, where Tehran backs government against US backed rebels, and Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias are playing a major role in fighting extremist ISIS.
On Friday the warplanes of the Saudi-led alliance attacked a popular market in the northwestern Yemeni city of Saada, killing or injuring at least 15 people, according to Yemens al-Massira TV.
The airstrikes against Sanaa resumed during the early hours of Friday.
The planes bombed military and civilian targets in and around the Yemeni capital.
The airstrikes targeted the al-Samaa military base north of the capital and al-Istiqlal camp on the western edge of Sanaa.
Television also said that anti-aircraft guns have shot down a reconnaissance plane west of Sanaa.
Health Ministry officials say 39 people have been killed in Yemen since Saudi-led strikes began.
But undeterred Houthi fighters entered the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa on Friday through the central province of Bayda, extending their reach into the south, according to tribal sources.
The fighters entered the city of Lodar in Abyan after clashes with tribal forces loyal to Hadi, and also took over Bayhan in Shabwa, where they faced less resistance.
Mosques in Saudi capital on Friday preached fiery sermons against the Ansarullah fighters and their Iranian allies, describing the fight as a religious duty. Saudi Arabia’s top clerical council issued a fatwa on Thursday giving its blessing to the campaign.
In the Iranian capital Tehran, Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Kazem Sadeghi described the attacks as “an aggression and interference in Yemens internal affairs”.
Residents said aircraft targeted bases around Sanaa of Republican Guards allied to the Houthis, including one near the presidential compound in a southern district, around dawn and also struck near a military installation that houses missiles.
OIL REGION HIT
The Republican Guards are loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, Houthi’s main Sunni ally who retains wide power despite having stepped down in 2011 after Arab Spring protests.
Earlier air strikes south of the city and in the oil-producing Marib region appeared to target military installations also affiliated with Saleh.
Yemeni oil flows through the Marib pipeline, its main export route, at a rate of around 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). The well-armed tribes are the de facto authority in the central province so their support for the air strikes was significant.
In his first reaction to the attacks, Ansarullah leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi on Thursday called Saudi Arabia a bad neighbor serving American and Israeli interests, saying in a televised speech Yemenis would confront the “criminal, unjust and unjustified aggression”.
Iran denounced the surprise assault on the Houthis and demanded an immediate halt to Saudi-led military operations and, on Friday, accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan of fomenting strife in the Middle East, rebuffing his accusation that Iran was trying to dominate the region.
According to Ansarullah leader, two fronts will be established in the country, a defensive front to preserve security in the capital, and an offensive front to counter the Saudi-led strikes.
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