Strikes continue despite declared halt of air war

Apparent US drone attack overnight kills seven suspected al-Qaida militants, witnesses say

Fresh airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition were reported in Yemen on Wednesday hours after the air war was due to end.

The coalition had declared a halt to the airstrikes after four weeks. The strikes were meant to stop at midnight, but Yemeni security officials said the coalition had launched further air attacks on Shiite rebels in two cities.

They said Wednesday's airstrikes hit the third-largest city of Taez, where the rebels, known as Houthis, had gathered at a military headquarters they control near the old airport to the city's southeast.

Airstrikes also hit the southern port city of Aden, blasting rebel forces in outlying districts there. Street fighting continued in both cities, especially Taez, where combat with rebels left dozens killed on both sides.

Residents of Aden and Taez reported no let-up in fighting between the rebels and supporters of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

The coalition said its operations would now enter a political phase, but it left open the option of resuming the air raids.

On Wednesday, Yemen's Houthi group freed the country's defense minister, General Mahmoud al-Subaihi, in Sanaa nearly a month after his capture, Houthi and tribal sources said.

Declared halt welcomed

Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, had welcomed Saudi Arabia's declared end to airstrikes against his Houthi militia allies and urged the renewal of political dialogue to guide the country out of turmoil, according to a statement on his Twitter account.

"We hope that everybody will return to dialogue to solve and treat all the issues," Saleh said on his Facebook page.

China had welcomed the declaration of an end to airstrikes and called for political negotiation in the country.

Washington, which was forced to withdraw its troops from a Yemen air base where they had been overseeing a long-standing drone war against the jihadists, had also hailed the declared end of the air campaign.

The White House said on Wednesday that Yemen remained unstable and much more work needed to be done in the region. "Obviously, the job is not done," Jen Psaki, White House communications director, said on CNN.

Also on Wednesday, a statement from Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said he will make a one-day trip to Riyadh on Thursday to discuss the war.

Sharif will be accompanied by the country's powerful army chief Raheel Sharif.

In another development, seven suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in an apparent US drone strike on the Yemeni port city of Mukalla, which the jihadists overran earlier this month, a local official said on Wednesday.

The overnight strike hit a vehicle parked near the presidential palace in Mukalla, witnesses said.

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that 944 people were reportedly killed and 3,487 wounded in Yemen in the four weeks up to Friday.

Reuters - AFP - Xinhua

(China Daily 04/23/2015 page12)