SANAA, Yemen — A Saudi-led coalition resumed airstrikes in Yemen on Wednesday despite the Saudis’ announcement a day earlier that they would curtail a month-long military campaign against Shiite rebels that has triggered widening disorder.
The rebels, known as Houthis, continued to lay siege Wednesday to the southern port city of Aden, indicating the difficulty of halting the fighting in Yemen.
Residents in the city of Taiz said Houthi fighters were targeted by multiple airstrikes by the coalition of mainly Sunni Arab countries that began an air offensive on March 26.
The air attacks have destroyed significant weapons stores belonging to the Houthis and their allies, and the Saudis said they had succeeded in preventing the rebels from taking over the Yemeni air force. But the rebels have pushed ahead with their ground assaults. .
“The Saudis lost. They didn’t achieve anything,” said Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian analyst from Jerusalem who specializes in regional security issues.
[Saudi Arabia’s deep roots in Yemen]
Yemen’s powerful al-Qaeda affiliate has taken advantage of the chaos to expand the territory it controls . The U.S. government had been regularly targeting fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, with drone strikes. On Wednesday, Yemeni security officials said seven suspected al-Qaeda fighters were killed in a drone attack believed carried out by U.S. forces in Hadramawt province, according to the Associated Press.
Qaq said gains made by al-Qaeda, along with Yemen’s worsening humanitarian crisis, have become an increasingly pressing concern for the Saudis and their coalition partners.
A naval and air blockade imposed by the coalition has choked off supplies of food, water and medicine to the country's 25 million residents, according to international aid organizations . Earlier this week, the World Health Organization said Yemen’s health system was on the verge of collapse because of the fighting, which aid organizations estimate has killed nearly 1,000 people and wounded hundreds. About 150,000 people have been displaced, according to the United Nations.
Hasan Zaid, a Yemeni political commentator who holds pro-Houthi sympathies, said the civilian casualties have angered many Yemenis and may have given a boost to the rebels.
On Tuesday, a military spokesman in Saudi Arabia announced that the coalition had ended the first phase of its campaign in Yemen, dubbed Operation Decisive Storm, and shifted to a new phase that would focus on counterterrorism and improving the humanitarian situation. He did not rule out more attacks against the Houthis. The U.S. government, which is providing logistical support to the coalition, welcomed the announcement and called for a quick return to negotiations on a political solution to the crisis.
The military operation — Saudi Arabia’s largest ever — aimed to blunt assaults by the Houthi rebel movement, which Riyadh considers to be a tool of its primary enemy, Iran, a Shiite nation. The Houthis follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Saudi Arabia has been alarmed by Iran’s growing influence in the region, as well as warming relations between Tehran and Washington.
In a Facebook post, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, a senior Houthi official, said Saudi assaults had to come to a complete stop before peace talks could take place. The rebel leadership called for mass rallies Thursday against the Saudi attacks.
The Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, in September as part of an offensive that has brought them to the southern edges of the country. In February, they toppled the governmentof President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who subsequently fled to Saudi Arabia.
Returning Hadi to power has been a major goal of the Saudi campaign, but that outcome appears increasingly unlikely as fighting rages in Aden. Until recently, the port city was a stronghold for the ousted president.
Wadhah al-Dubaish, 40, an anti-Houthi fighter in Aden, said clashes continued to erupt across the city, which has experienced dire shortages of food, water and medicine because of the battles. He and other fighters have expressed frustration over the embattled president’s decision to escape to Saudi Arabia.
“Hadi better not dream of coming to Aden,” he said by telephone, adding: “We will continue to fight until we drive out the Houthis or kill them.”
In Taiz, a hotbed of anti-Houthi sentiment, an airstrike targeted Houthi rebels on Wednesday after they had seized a military base, residents said.
“There was heavy shooting and shelling in the early morning,” said Abdulqader al-Junaid, a physician who lives in the city.
Rumors have swirled about a possible peace initiative that could be led by Oman, which has remained neutral during the conflict. That country has strong ties with both Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Naylor reported from Beirut. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.
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Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Hugh Naylor is a Beirut-based correspondent for The Post. He has reported from over a dozen countries in the Middle East for such publications as The National, an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper, and The New York Times.
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