(Bloomberg) -- Saudi-led coalition forces struck an air force base near an oil field east of Yemen’s capital on Friday, destroying a radar station as the offensive against Shiite rebels in the country entered its second day.
The target was a few kilometers from the Safer oil field in Mareb, resident Abdullah Hasan Ali said. While Houthi rebels do not control Mareb, the area has forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose alliance with the Houthis accelerated their takeover of large parts of the country.
Saudi jets bombed the capital of Sana’a into the early morning hours, and strikes will continue “as long as necessary,” said Ahmed Asseri, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition. The air campaign, codenamed “Operation Decisive Storm,” is targeting military commands, communications facilities and air defenses, he said.
Yemen’s conflict is threatening a wider war in a region that holds more than half the world’s oil. Saudi Arabia and its allies support President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi, while Shiite-led Iran has ties with the rebels. Years of unrest and uprisings have already weakened Yemen’s government and allowed al-Qaeda to establish a base in the country.
Arab nations reached out to members of the United Nations Security Council about a possible resolution calling for an arms embargo against the rebels, said two Arab diplomats, who asked not to be named because the negotiations aren’t concluded. A resolution may also call for international monitors along the coast to enforce the embargo.
Oil Price
Yemen’s southern tip, called the Bab el-Mandeb, is a choke point in international shipping and the global energy trade. Brent crude declined 1.5 percent to $58.33 a barrel on Friday, paring gains of more than 7 percent in the previous two days that were triggered by the crisis.
Saudi Arabia on Friday resumed flights at five of six airports in the southern part of the country, according to state-run Saudi Press Agency. Flights were suspended Thursday after the strikes on Yemen began.
The Saudis are leading a coalition of 10 Sunni-ruled nations that have carried out raids around Sana’a, which is controlled by Houthi rebels.
The attack came after the rebels advanced on the southern port of Aden, where forces loyal to Hadi had rallied. A new wave of airstrikes began late Thursday, pounding army posts around the capital as anti-aircraft artillery fired back.
U.S. Intelligence
The Saudis informed U.S. intelligence officials this week that they might take military action to prevent Aden falling to the rebels, two U.S. officials said Thursday in Washington.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the airstrikes then made use of imagery and targeting information from U.S. intelligence and other assets. While Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations possess attack and aerial refueling aircraft, they lack the reconnaissance satellites, drones and eavesdropping equipment in the American inventory.
Thousands of Houthi supporters have protested in the capital against the air strikes, and chanted slogans denouncing the Gulf countries and the U.S.
Yemeni President Hadi arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh Thursday, SPA said. Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar said they responded to a request from Hadi, SPA said. Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan are also part of the operation, according to Al Arabiya.
Ground Troops
The coalition has no immediate plans to send ground troops, though it’s ready to do so if needed and plans to continue the air operation for as long as is necessary, coalition spokesman Asseri said.
The U.S., which withdrew its special forces from Yemen amid the past week’s turmoil, counts Hadi’s government as an ally against al-Qaeda. President Barack Obama has “authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support” for the Gulf-led operation, the White House said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries haven’t requested any logistical or aerial refueling support, according to Air Force Major Omar Villarreal, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
Egyptian Support
Arab foreign ministers meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh agreed in principle on a joint military force, according to state-run Qatar news agency.
Egypt said it’s ready to offer military and political support and is coordinating with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries for the participation of its air and naval forces, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
The Houthis, who are fighting al-Qaeda throughout Yemen, accuse Hadi of tacitly supporting the jihadists. Their leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, in a televised address late Thursday, denounced an “unjustified aggression” and accused the Saudis and other countries that joined the bombing of being “puppets” of the West.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Gulf intervention would play into the hands of al-Qaeda and Islamic State, according to official Press TV.
Assertive Policy
The oil-rich Sunni Arab states of the Persian Gulf, longtime U.S. allies, have pursued more assertive foreign policies in recent years, sending troops to crush a pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain and taking part in U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State in Syria.
They’re seeking to ward off perceived threats to their absolute monarchies, especially from Shiite groups or from Sunni Islamist movements that seek power via the ballot box, such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Houthis follow the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam and say they don’t take orders from Iran. Zaidis make up about 40 percent of Yemen’s population, concentrated in the northern half of a country that was reunified in 1990 after decades of division into two states.
To contact the reporters on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Beirut at dabunasr@bloomberg.net; Mohammed Hatem in Sana’a at mhatem1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net Jack Fairweather, Rodney Jefferson
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