Airstrikes on Yemen’s capital kill at least 20 civilians

Yemen’s Prime Minister and Vice President Khaled Bahah and several cabinet members returned to Aden last week after government loyalists, known as the Popular Resistance, and Saudi-led forces, drove the Houthis from the strategic southern city.

Not long after, however, the Houthis took Aden and Hadi fled the country outright to Saudi Arabia.

A spokesman said Hadi’s return would be permanent, although the president plans to fly to New York after the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha this week to join world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

Since then, the Huthis have lost five southern provinces to Hadi loyalists, and are waging an offensive in Marib province east of the capital.

On September 21 thousands of rebel sympathizers thronged Sanaa to celebrate a year since the city’s seizure, despite a relentless campaign of Saudi-led strikes.

Peace talks collapse: Forces loyal to President Hadi began an all-out offensive on Sept 13 against the Houthis in Marib, aiming to retake the capital a year after it fell to the insurgents.

A day later, Hadi’s government backed out of UN-brokered peace talks in Oman after saying only days earlier that it was going to take part.

Loyalists have also been locked in fierce fighting for control of Yemen’s third city Taez, which like Marib is seen as a crucial gateway to Sanaa.

Over 70 people, including six children, were also killed earlier in the day when Saudi warplanes engaged in massive attacks on capital Sana’a and provinces of Hajjah in the west, Sa’ada in the northwest, and Ibb in the southwestern part of the country.

The death toll is likely to rise because some people are missing, another medical source said, as rescuers combed the rubble. The intervention set off a civil war in Yemen that has left almost 5,000 people dead and drawn regional powers into the fighting.

Elsewhere, a United States drone strike killed two suspected members of Al-Qaeda east of Sanaa, an official said.

The Saudi-led coalition airstrikes hit the residence in Sana’a on Friday and seriously damaged the Omani ambassador’s home and nearby houses in al-Sabin district.

On Monday the jihadists angered Mukalla residents by razing tombs in an old cemetery.