The Houthi command has not made a decision regarding potential attacks on Saudi Arabia, which has been leading international coalition efforts against the fighters in Yemen, although there is a real possibility of such move, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told the Syrian News Channel (Al-Ikhbariyah).
“As of now, the leadership in charge of military action in Yemen has not decided whether to cut off the Bab-el-Mandeb straight [which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden] and launch attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that they have such capabilities,” Nasrallah said, Sputnik reported on Tuesday.
According to the leader of the Beirut-based militant group, Saudi Arabia and the coalition are suffering a “catastrophic failure” in their efforts to defeat Houthis through airstrikes as the attacks have turned Yemeni residents against the authorities.
An international coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been carrying out airstrikes against the Shiite Houthi fighters since March 26, following a request for military aid from Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who has left the country amid the hostilities.
The rising death toll from the violence prompted Russia to call for a “humanitarian pause” in fighting. A UN resolution to this effect is currently being considered by the 15-nation UN Security Council.
Aid Delayed
Relief workers have warned of a dire situation in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, where a Saudi-led coalition is waging an air war on the Houthi Shiite fighters.
The bloodiest fighting occurred between fighters and loyalists of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in the main southern city of Aden, officials said, France 24 reported on Tuesday.
Fifty-three people, more than a third of those slain in the past 24 hours, were killed as Houthis tried to seize a port in the city, which sits on an extinct volcano jutting out into the sea.
Ten Houthi fighters were killed in coalition air strikes that hit Al-Anad airbase near Abyan and a military camp in Lahj, while many more died in Shabwa province.
Hadi, considered by the UN to be Yemen’s legitimate leader, took refuge in Aden in February after the Houthis, who hail from the mountainous north, seized power in Sanaa.
Yemen, strategically located near key shipping routes and bordering oil-rich Saudi Arabia, is sinking deeper into a multi-sided civil conflict.
Aid Flight ‘Problems’
The Red Cross has appealed for an immediate truce to facilitate aid deliveries and has called for all land, air and sea routes to be immediately opened to allow in 48 tones of medical supplies the organization has ready to treat up to 3,000 wounded.
The situation is particularly dire in Aden, where some neighborhoods have had no electricity or water in days.
The Red Cross has been trying to fly emergency supplies into Sanaa but the plane is still stuck on the tarmac.
“We have a cargo plane with medical supplies which is ready to go,” said Sitara Jabeen, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“We have the permission for this plane but we have logistical problems for the landing. There are less and less planes landing in Yemen. We are trying to solve the logistic problems,” she told AFP.
