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Saudi Arabia trains tribal Yemeni fighters: sources

Arab World Materials 30 April 2015 11:53 (UTC +04:00)
Saudi-led air strikes hit five Yemeni provinces as fighting raged in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, and sources in the region said the kingdom was training armed tribesmen to fight the Iran-allied Houthi group
Saudi Arabia trains tribal Yemeni fighters: sources

Saudi-led air strikes hit five Yemeni provinces as fighting raged in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, and sources in the region said the kingdom was training armed tribesmen to fight the Iran-allied Houthi group, Al Arabia reported.

Houthi militias' tanks and snipers killed at least 12 civilians overnight in Yemen's Aden as they advanced toward the center of the city, residents said, and a Saudi-led coalition airdropped arms to anti-Houthi fighters in the city of Taez.

The Houthis took the capital Sanaa in September, demanding a more inclusive government, and swept south, rattling top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia and its allies, who fear what they see as expanding Iranian influence in the region. Arab coalition air strikes have, over the last month, backed local fighters in Aden and nationwide battling Shi'ite Houthis.

Heavy clashes shook the Khor Maksar district in Aden, seen as the main bulwark against the Houthis, and dozens of families fled the district on Wednesday.

"The world, the coalition and the United Nations need to step in urgently to save our neighborhood, which has truly become a disaster area after this indiscriminate shelling," resident Ali Mohammed Yahya said.

About 200 kilometers to the north, Arab aircraft dropped weapons for tribal and Islamist militiamen fighting the Houthis in the city of Taez. Talks between the Houthis and Riyadh-based President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi collapsed in early April and he fled. Chaos then set in as the Iran-allied Houthis fought their way south, battling loyalist army units, regional tribes and Al Qaeda militants.

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