Gulf nations launch strikes in Yemen

Jordan said attacks on rebels are to uphold security and stability in highly strategic region

Saudi Arabia and allies launched military operations including airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday, officials said, to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden, where the US-backed Yemeni president had taken refuge.

Gulf broadcaster al-Arabiya TV reported that the kingdom was contributing as many as 150,000 troops and 100 warplanes to the operations. Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Pakistan were ready to take part in a ground offensive in Yemen, it said.

On Thursday, Jordanian air force fighter jets were participating in the Saudi-led operation with its Arab allies against Houthi fighters in Yemen, a Jordanian official source said.

"This is in line with supporting legitimacy in Yemen and its security and stability ... Yemen and the Gulf's security is a high strategic interest (for Jordan)," an official Jordanian source told Reuters.

Saudi Ambassador to Washington Adel al-Jubeir said a coalition of more than 10 countries had joined the military campaign to try to protect Hadi's government, without naming the countries involved.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar signed a joint statement with Saudi Arabia announcing the military action, leaving Oman as the only member of the Gulf Cooperation Council not to join the coalition.

Egypt, Jordan and Sudan said their forces were involved in the operation. Pakistan said it was considering a request from Saudi Arabia to send ground forces.

Morocco declared its support for the Saudi-led operation, but did not confirm or deny earlier reports by Gulf broadcaster al-Arabiya that it had sent fighter jets.

There was no immediate confirmation of those figures from Riyadh. Al-Arabiya also said the United Arab Emirates was sending 30 warplanes to join the operation, along with 15 each from Bahrain and Kuwait, 10 from Qatar, six each from Jordan and Morocco and three from Sudan.

Yemen's slide toward civil war has made it a crucial front in mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia's rivalry with Shiite Iran, which Riyadh accuses of stirring up sectarian strife throughout the region and in Yemen with its support for the Houthis.

The crisis now risks spiraling into a proxy war with Iran backing the Houthis, and Saudi Arabia and the other regional Sunni Muslim monarchies supporting Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Iran condemned regional rival Saudi Arabia on Thursday for launching airstrikes on Huthi rebels in Yemen, saying it was "a dangerous step" that violated "international responsibilities and national sovereignty".

"The Saudi-led air strikes should stop immediately and it is against Yemen's sovereignty," the Students News Agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China urges all parties to act in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions on Yemen, and to resolve the dispute through dialogue.

Reuters - AFP