15 rebels killed in Saudi-led strike on Houthi base in Yemen

It came as France's top diplomat voiced support for the coalition's air campaign, while the Saudi foreign minister called on Tehran to stop arming the Shiite fighters.

People gather around a crater caused by an air strike in Amran province, north-west of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on April 12, 2015. Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

SANAA // Fifteen rebel fighters died on Sunday in Saudi-led airstrikes on a Houthi base in Al Dhahra, in Taez province in central Yemen.

Clashes also continued in the southern city of Aden as forces loyal to fugitive president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi fought advancing Shiite rebels backed by Iran and supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In the third week of airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and allies including the UAE, warplanes struck the Camp 22 rebel base before dawn.

The base belongs to the elite Republican Guard who remained loyal to Mr Saleh after he was forced from power in 2012 following a year of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of nine Arab countries who have carried out airstrikes since March 26 against rebels who overran the capital, Sanaa, in September.

In Riyadh on Sunday, France’s top diplomat voiced western support for the air campaign. France was “naturally on the side of its regional partners for the restoration of stability in Yemen”, foreign minister Laurent Fabius said.

“Concerning Yemen, we are here to demonstrate our support, especially political, to the Saudi authorities.”

Mr Fabius has held a series of meetings with the Saudi leadership, including King Salman.

At a news conference alongside Mr Fabius, Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal called on Tehran not to “assist the criminal activities” of the Houthis “against the legitimate order of Yemen and (to) stop the delivery of weapons and aid” to the rebels.

But he insisted that “we are not at war with Iran,” which denies arming the rebels.

Also on Sunday, Moscow said a Russian navy ship had rescued 308 people of various nationalities from Yemen, who were expected to arrive in Djibouti later in the day.

They included 45 Russians, 18 Americans, five Britons and 159 Yemenis, and citizens of other Middle East and former Soviet states.

Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration said it had flown a first planeload of foreign nationals from Sanaa to Sudan and aimed to evacuate more than 16,000 other foreigners who are stranded in the country.

The organisation said 38 countries had asked it to help evacuate their nationals.

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that at least 500 Houthis had been killed in border clashes since coalition airstrikes began, while three Saudi army officers were killed on Friday in a mortar attack on the kingdom’s border with Yemen. Coalition spokesman Brig Gen Ahmed Assiri said there had been 1,200 airstrikes between March 26 and noon on Saturday.

The coalition’s air campaign, which has been accompanied by a naval blockade, was launched as the rebels closed in on Mr Hadi’s refuge in Aden.

The president escaped to Saudi Arabia as the rebels and their allies entered the port city, sparking fierce fighting with his loyalists.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday pleaded for the resumption of peace talks in Yemen and called for an end to all military action in the war-torn country.

“There should be a cessation of military moves as soon as possible,” said Mr Ban. “Let the peace process be resumed, the United Nations stands ready.”

* Agence France-Presse