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Egypt Says It May Send Troops to Yemen to Fight Houthis - New York Times




Houthi rebels at the site of a Saudi airstrike near the Sana airport on Thursday. Mohammed Huwais/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

CAIRO — Egypt said Thursday that it was prepared to send troops into Yemen as part of a Saudi-led campaign to drive back the Iranian-backed Houthi advance, signaling the growing likelihood of a protracted ground war on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.


A day after Saudi Arabia and a coalition of nine other states began hammering the Houthis with airstrikes and blockading the Yemeni coast, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt said in a statement that the country’s navy and air force had joined the campaign and that its army was ready to send ground troops “if necessary.”


The Associated Press, citing unnamed military officials, reported that plans for an Egyptian invasion were already underway, and many analysts had already concluded that airstrikes alone had little chance of pushing back the Houthis.


Saudi news media declared that the offensive, which began Wednesday night, had fully disabled the Houthi-aligned Yemeni Air Force.



Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival and the Houthis’ main ally, denounced the assault as an American-backed attempt “to foment civil war in Yemen or disintegrate the country.” Houthi-controlled television channels broadcast footage of dead bodies and wounded civilians, blaming “American-backed aggression.”



The movement’s leaders warned that the battle could widen into a regional conflict, but they also vowed to overcome the Saudi attacks without Iranian help. “The Yemeni people are prepared to face this aggression without any foreign interference,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi spokesman, told Reuters.


Prices for crude oil rose about 4 percent on Thursday over concerns that the fighting in Yemen might affect the passage of tankers through the Bab el Mandeb strait, a narrow chokepoint between Yemen and Africa that is the entrance to the Red Sea.


Along with Iraq, Libya and Syria, Yemen is the fourth Arab nation where an attempt to build a new democracy has been consumed by civil conflict, regional proxy wars and the expansion of extremist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.


The Houthi leadership, which hails from northern Yemen, practices a variant of Shiite Islam, the religion of the Iranian theocracy. Saudi Arabia, the region’s Sunni Muslim power, is backing forces loyal to President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled the capital, Sana, and has taken refuge among his supporters in the south.


The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, criticized the airstrikes and said, “Regional countries should restrain from any actions which may intensify the crisis,” the presidential website reported.


Mr. Rouhani added, “We should make extensive efforts for three aims: stopping military interference in Yemen, preventing any opportunities for terrorists to take control, and helping setting up a sovereign government.”


The Saudi Arabian-led military intervention immediately raised the threat that Iran might retaliate by increasing its own support for the Houthis with money and weapons — as Tehran has in the past — or with a more active military role, escalating the violence. But the struggle for Yemen is more than merely a sectarian conflict or a regional proxy war, in part because of the singular role of Ali Abudullah Saleh, the country’s former strongman.


Mr. Saleh left power under pressure from an Arab Spring uprising under a transitional plan brokered by Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf states. As president, he fought wars against the Houthis and at times appeared to ally with Saudis against Iran.


But he is a member of the same Shiite sect as the Houthis, and he has now struck an alliance with them in an apparent bid to restore himself and his family to power. He has helped lead units of the Yemeni military and security services to swing to the side of the Houthis against his successor, Mr. Hadi, and analysts say Mr. Saleh has played a much more critical role than Iran has in enabling the Houthi advance.


Life With Houthi Rebels in Yemen | Times Dispatched | مع المتمردين الحوثيين في اليمن Video by The New York Times

Some of the Houthi allies have even begun calling for the election of the former president’s eldest son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, as Yemen’s next leader. An ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and a former commander of Yemen’s elite Republican Guard, the face of the younger Mr. Saleh now appears on billboards around Houthi-controlled Sana urging his selection as the country’s next president.


The United States and most Arab nations moved quickly to support the Saudi-led operation in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia is calling Operation Decisive Storm.


The White House said in a statement that the United States would provide “logistical and intelligence support” to the Saudi-led military operations. “While U.S. forces are not taking direct military action in Yemen in support of this effort, we are establishing a joint planning cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate U.S. military and intelligence support,” Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in a statement.


“The United States strongly condemns ongoing military actions taken by the Houthis against the elected government of Yemen,” she said.


“We strongly urge the Houthis to halt immediately their destabilizing military actions and return to negotiations as part of the political dialogue,” Ms. Meehan said. “The violent takeover of Yemen by an armed faction is unacceptable and a legitimate political transition — long sought by the Yemeni people — can be accomplished only through political negotiations and a consensus agreement among all of the parties.”



Areas of Houthi Control





Houthis control or have influence




Houthis are able to operate




Areas where Al Qaeda is able to operate




SHABWA PROVINCE


Qaeda stronghold






Areas where Al Qaeda


is able to operate.




Houthis control or have influence




Houthis are able to operate




Areas where Al Qaeda is able to operate




SHABWA


PROVINCE


Qaeda


stronghold





In Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is meeting with Iran’s foreign minister on a nuclear accord, Secretary of State John Kerry held a conference call on Thursday to discuss the situation in Yemen with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. Mr. Kerry “commended the work of the coalition taking military action against the Houthis,” a State Department official said.


The State Department later went out of its way to make public that the American support includes not only intelligence sharing and logistical help but also “targeting assistance.”


Four other Persian Gulf monarchies, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, joined the Saudi operation, as well as the allied Arab kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco.


Of the Persian Gulf states, only Oman declined to participate. Two other less expected nations outside the immediate region — Pakistan and Sudan — took part as well, according to the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya network.


The Turkish foreign ministry issued a statement saying Turkey supports the military operation, which it described as “based on the request of legitimately elected Yemeni President Hadi.”


Al Arabiya reported that Saudi Arabia had deployed 100 warplanes, 150,000 soldiers and naval units for the effort in Yemen, and that its allies had contributed at least 85 more warplanes and other military support. So far, though, the operation has consisted only of airstrikes.


Residents of Sana said the Dailami air base and the city’s international airport had been hit. Antiaircraft gunfire continued for hours, and residents said they saw flames rising from both structures.


By morning, local health officials said 25 people had died and 40 others were wounded, and the Houthi-controlled state television channel urged anyone with medical training to rush to the city’s hospitals. Doctors Without Borders, the international medical charity, said in a news release that scores of wounded people had been treated in its hospital in the southern city of Aden.


Many Sana residents were packing up to leave the city, some of them forced out because their mud-built houses had collapsed from the bombing.


“Sana is not safe anymore; we are leaving for our village,” said Mohammed al-Wesabi, walking with his wife and three children and carrying their luggage.


Usually busy streets were largely deserted, and schools and universities were closed. But some making their way to work said the strikes had increased support for the Houthis.


“Though I don’t agree with the Houthis in many aspects, this airstrike against our homeland is a war against us all,” said Wahib Sharabi, 29, a civil engineer. “It’s the beginning of the end of the Saud house.”


Mr. Hadi, the Saudi-backed leader, fled last month to Aden but slipped out of public view on Wednesday when the Houthi forces appeared to close in on the city. Al Arabiya reported on Thursday that he was in Saudi Arabia on his way to attend a summit meeting in Egypt this weekend but would be returning to Yemen to govern.


Riad Yassin, Yemen’s foreign minister, said on a Saudi-owned television station that Mr. Hadi’s government applauded the airstrikes.


“I hope the Houthis listen to the sound of reason,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “With what is happening, they forced us into this.”


In Aden, residents said on Thursday that clashes between militias supporting Mr. Hadi and forces allied with the Houthis had broken out in several districts, including near the city’s airport and the Bader military base.


“I can hear loud explosions near the airport and the base,” one resident said in a telephone interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of attracting the attention of fighters on either side.



Saeed Al-Batati contributed reporting from Al Mukalla, Yemen; Mohammed Ali Kalfood from Sana, Yemen; Kareem Fahim and Stanley Reed from London; Michael R. Gordon from Lausanne, Switzerland; Thomas Erdbrink from Tehran; and Ceylan Yeginsu from Istanbul.











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