UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for international action to end the Saudi-led air campaign on Houthi rebels as intense bombing hit Yemen again on Friday and Al-Qaeda seized more ground in the chaos.
Columns of smoke rose over an arms depot targeted by warplanes east of the capital Sanaa, witnesses said. The facility belonged to the elite Republican Guard, which remains loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Renegade troops loyal to Saleh are allied with the Houthi rebels, whose sweeping advance forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh last month
Following heavy overnight air strikes in the north, coalition aircraft also hit the presidential palace in the southern city of Taez, the witnesses said. Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri said that “from this afternoon we have started operations in Taez”.
Meanwhile, 30 people were killed in the Yemeni city of Taez in clashes between loyalist forces and rebels as well as Saudi-led coalition air raids, medical sources said on Saturday.