Yemeni President returns from exile

Prime minister Khaled Bahah returned from exile to the main southern city of Aden last week, but acknowledged that his government still faces challenges, even in the south.

On Friday Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni Nobel Peace laureate, said the war was causing endless damage to the country and said civilians were bearing the brunt of the assault.

The Associated Press reported that four other foreign hostages held in Yemen also were released, along with the two Americans.

The White House said it had “worked tirelessly to secure the release” of the Americans since they were taken earlier this year.

A ground offensive by coalition troops and forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi meanwhile appears to have stalled in Marib province, east of Sanaa.

The Saudi-led campaign targeting the Houthis in Yemen began on March 26 following a request by the country’s internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, after he and his cabinet were deposed in a Houthi coup in February.

The embattled Hadi’s return reflects how the momentum of a conflict that accelerated in March with Saudi-led airstrikes has shifted away from the Houthis.

Abdel-Malek also accused Saudi Arabia of barring most Yemeni pilgrims from traveling to the kingdom to perform the annual haj pilgrimage, which starts this week.

Saudi-led air strikes on a security complex in central Yemen controlled by Shiite rebels killed 11 people on Sunday, some of them prisoners, witnesses and medics said.

Hadi’s arrival comes as troops supporting him are struggling to advance from the key battleground of Marib to the rebel-held capital some 165 kilometres (103 miles) to their west.

But in a statement to Saudi daily Al Sharq Al Awsat, Brigadier General Ahmad Asiri said that the attack was carried out by the Houthi rebels and not by coalition forces.

Yemeni Shiite Houthi rebels have released two Americans hostages among the five released today (one Briton and two from Saudi) that have been held for months, thanks to the help from the Sultan of Oman.

The death toll was likely to rise because some people were missing, another medical source said, as rescuers combed the rubble.