Yemen’s Houthi militia poised to take president’s Aden base

HOUTHI militia forces in Yemen, backed by allied army units, seized a key air base yesterday and appeared poised to capture the southern port of Aden from defenders loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, local residents said.

After taking al-Anad air base, the Houthis and their military allies, supported by heavy armor, advanced to within 40km (25 miles) of Aden, where Hadi has been holed up since fleeing the Houthi-controled capital Sanaa last month.

Unidentified warplanes fired missiles at the Aden neighborhood where Hadi’s compound is located, residents said. Anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on the planes.

The city’s airport was closed and all flights were canceled for security reasons, guards at the facility told Reuters.

Yemen’s slide towards civil war has made the country a crucial front in mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia’s rivalry with Shi’ite Iran, which Riyadh accuses of stirring up sectarian strife through its support for the Houthis.