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SAUDI ARABIA HAS carried out air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, launching an operation by a regional coalition to save the government of embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as the country teeters on the brink of civil war.
Pro-Iran Hezbollah has called on Saudi Arabia to “immediately stop the aggression” after the air strikes were launched.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said:
The latest events in Yemen have dramatically worsened the already fragile situation in the country and risk having serious regional consequences.
I’m convinced that military action is not a solution.
Stepping up
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US announced that a coalition of 10 countries, including five Gulf monarchies, had been set up to protect the Yemeni government.
President Barack Obama has authorised the “provision of logistical and intelligence support” to the military operation.
Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE along with Saudi Arabia said they “have decided to answer the call of President Hadi to protect Yemen and his people from the aggression of the (Shiite) Houthi militia”.
Saudi envoy Adel al-Jubeir did not name the other countries involved in the coalition.
Saudi SPA state news agency said Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan had all “expressed desire to participate in the operation” against the rebels, which the kingdom dubbed “Firmness Storm”.
Al-Jubeir told reporters in Washington that the operation “is to defend and support the legitimate government of Yemen and prevent the radical Houthi movement from taking over the country”.
“The Royal Saudi Air Force has taken out the Houthi air defences and destroyed numerous Houthi fighter planes,” a Saudi advisor said, adding that air force “has pretty much secured most of the Yemeni air space and is now consolidating a wide no-fly zone.”
Military sources said the raids had hit rebel positions at various locations in Sanaa, including at al-Daylami airbase and the adjacent international airport in north Sanaa, as well as the presidential complex seized by the rebels in January.
Huge explosions were heard in Sanaa as strikes hit the airbase at Sanaa airport and other locations in the capital, an AFP correspondent reported.
In the south, residents reported hearing large blasts at Al-Anad main airbase, north of Aden, which was seized by anti-government forces Wednesday.
Under threat
The Saudi advisor said his country’s defence minister warned the son of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, “who is commanding the attack on Aden that his forces face ‘obliteration’ if they continue their push toward Aden.”
Saleh, who resigned in 2012 following a year of nationwide protests, is accused of allying with the rebels, relying on the loyalty of many army units that he built during his three-decade rule.
Acting foreign minister Riyad Yassin had warned in Egypt that the fall of the second city Aden would mean the “start of civil war” as he drummed up Arab military support for Hadi.
Aides to Hadi said that the Western-backed president had been taken to a safe haven “within Aden”, where he fled last month.
Washington said it had been in touch with Hadi and that he was no longer at his residence, but it was unable to say where he was.
Yemen has been gripped by growing turmoil since the Shiite Houthi rebels launched a power takeover in Sanaa in February.
The strife has raised fears Yemen could be torn apart by a proxy war between Shiite Iran, accused of backing the rebels, and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, which supports Hadi.
Dozens of people have been killed as the Houthis backed by troops allied to former strongman Saleh, have clashed with pro-Hadi forces as they push southwards.
Dagger
Yassin warned that domination by Iran would be a “dagger in the side of Saudi Arabia and the rest of countries of the Gulf”.
His comments came after the Houthis said they had captured the defence minister in their push southwards deep into Lahj province, adjacent to Aden.
General Mahmud al-Subaihi, who escaped house arrest in Sanaa this month, had been seen as a vital ally of Hadi in charge of organising Aden’s defence lines.
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Taste of his own medicine…..welldone french police
Would have preferred that he would suffer through the remainder of his life in a prison tbh rather than such a quick end.
Sounds like he killed himself jumping out the window coward to the end
Yes, Shane. Coward. As they all are. It must never be forgotten that he murdered children in cold blood. To hell with him.
Shane it was a ground floor apartment so I don’t think he jumped out the window to commit suicide!
Gearoid ye it had said it was a 5 story building and wasn’t sure what floor he was on , sure ended up he got a bullet in the skull from a police sniper .
Instead of 50 virgins in paradise, he’s, hopefully, simply stone dead.
It’s 72 virgins actually.
In fact there’s an argument about the translation of the word “virgin”, it could be “grapes”. So these nuts are looking forward to dying for a bunch of grapes :)
72 Susan Boyles…..aaagh
Inevitable end really,he was dead when he went into that house but I would’ve liked to see him rotting in a lonely dull cell for the rest of his life
About time!!
Real shame he wasn’t captured alive and put on trial. This was too quick an end for him.
Unfortunately he may be seen as a hero to extremists and may inspire other attacks.
LePen and her neo Nazi kind will use this to further ingrate tensions between France and it’s north african minority.
I’m also surprised that a lot of reports ignore the fact that his first victims were french muslim soldiers.
Headshot whilst jumping from a window..? Good amount of XP for that!
I’m actually so disappointed that it ended like this he got exactly what he wanted jumping out of a window guns blazing, to nutters like him he will be seen as a hero. Justice for the families would have been for him to see out the rest of his days in little 4/4 cell somewhere. But I guess there was very little the police could do it was almost inevitable that he was not going to be taken alive.
The commandos weren’t up to much by the sounds of it. This lunatic seemed to have the upper hand from day one. Should have brought in the SAS.
Dens do you try take the proverbial piss on everything? Seriously a therapist would have nightmares with you.
The French RIAD unit regularly train with other elite units like the SAS and GIGN, at the end of the day a nut with a fully automatic machine gun in a small apartment can get a lucky shot off. Job well done by them anyway.
Arrogance ….. You should have gone over there and shown them how to do it Denis.
Allez Les Blue.
Simple question comes to mind, where did he get the gun/s – in particular the machine gun/s?
A kalashnikov can be picked up in the suburbs of Marseille for 400 Euro
“Jumped” yeah right.
good shot!!!
Well done to the French Police. What a scumbag I have no sympathy for him.
Sarkozy said in a statement that this lunatic has been under police surveillance for a number of years. Obviously not the other day when he committed murder. Any terrorist who is considered a threat should be locked up instead of getting a police escort which doesn’t work anyway.
Allen les Blue
have your say