Yemen: Houthi fighters and allies seize central Aden district

Houthi fighters in control of southern port city of Crater, the last major holdout of fighters loyal to Saudi-backed president

A man carries a box of ammunition he took from a military depot in Aden, Yemen. Photograph: Yassir Hassan/AP
Kareem Shaheen in Beirut-Thursday 2 April 2015

Fighting has escalated in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, the last redoubt of loyalists to the exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, with Houthi rebels reportedly seizing the presidential palace amid unconfirmed reports of foreign troops landing in the city’s port.

Houthi fighters and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh – who was ousted in 2012 after Arab Spring-style protests – battled their way into the heart of Aden on Thursday despite a week of punishing air raids by a Saudi-led coalition that is seeking to stem their advance.

The presidential palace, a cluster of colonial-era villas perched atop a rocky hill that juts into the Arabian Sea, was Hadi’s last seat of power before he fled to Saudi Arabia last month. Yemeni security officials quoted by the Associated Press said it had fallen into rebel hands.

A resident of Aden whose son was killed battling the Houthis told the Guardian by telephone that violent street battles were raging throughout the city, with local popular committees and young people fighting disorganised street battles and resisting the advancing rebels.

“They learned street fighting from the Americans to combat al-Qaida and now they have turned against the people,” he said of Saleh’s troops, which are aiding the Houthis.

He said there was no organised leadership of the Aden residents taking on the Houthis, and that his home had been partially burned as a result of the Houthi and Saleh fighters firing indiscriminately at locals’ homes.

Residents of Aden’s central Crater district told Reuters that Houthi fighters and their allies were in control of the neighbourhood by midday on Thursday, deploying tanks and foot patrols through its otherwise empty streets after heavy fighting in the morning.

The Houthi advance appears to be aimed at seizing as much ground as possible to strengthen their hand in any future power-sharing negotiations, but it is unclear if they can hold the city given the presence of homegrown resistance to their rule and the ongoing street battles.

Their progress also threatens an escalation by Saudi Arabia, which has not ruled out a ground invasion. The coalition, which is backed by the US, also includes Egypt, most of the Gulf states and Pakistan.

Reuters reported that dozens of unidentified troops have landed in the city by sea, but it has not been possible to verify their nationality. An adviser to the Saudis denied the BBC initial reports that the troops were foreign.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led states in the region are concerned about Iran’s growing sphere of influence in the Middle East, and accuse the Houthis of being puppets of the Islamic Republic, which has opposed the Yemeni operation, known as Decisive Storm.

The coalition’s spokesman, Brig Gen Ahmad Asiri, said in a press briefing on Wednesday that the operation would continue, saying fighter jets had targeted Houthi-held ballistic missiles, air defences and weapons depots, as well as troop positions backing the Aden assault. He added that the coalition did not target them inside the city to avoid civilian casualties.

Asiri also accused the Houthis of bombing al-Mazraq refugee camp, where at least 29 people were killed on Tuesday, saying the coalition was not responsible for the attack.

He said the coalition’s naval assets had taken full control of the waters surrounding Yemen to enforce a blockade on the Houthis.

The Aden resident who asked not to be named urged the coalition to “take responsibility” and land troops to remove the Houthis from the city.

He said: “Our hope is great in God and our brothers, that they are responsible. They took us into war and only used planes but if they land well-trained forces these militias would be routed.”

He said the humanitarian situation in the city was tragic and his son would have survived the wounds he sustained in fighting if there were medical supplies and specialist doctors still in the city.

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement on Thursday that it is “facing real difficulties sending in more supplies and personnel due to the closure of ports and airports, and due to the active fighting and bombing”.

The organisation said it has treated 580 wounded people in its emergency surgical unit in Aden over seven different waves of mass casualties.

Action Against Hunger, one of the few organisations still operating in Yemen, said the humanitarian situation is “dire and worsening daily”, and it is all but impossible to import basic food staples amid airport and port closures and the no-fly zone over the country.