WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday night that it had launched a military campaign in Yemen,
the beginning of what a Saudi official said was an offensive to restore
a Yemeni government that had collapsed after rebel forces took control
of large swaths of the country.
The
air campaign began as the internal conflict in Yemen showed signs of
degenerating into a proxy war between regional powers. The Saudi
announcement came during a rare news conference in Washington by Adel
al-Jubeir, the kingdom’s ambassador to the United States.
Mr.
Jubeir said that the Saudis were part of a coalition of approximately
10 nations determined to blunt the advance of Shiite Houthi rebels, who
have overrun Yemen’s capital and forced the American-backed government
into a full retreat.
“We
will do whatever it takes to protect the legitimate government of
Yemen,” said Mr. Jubeir, who spoke to reporters shortly after the air
campaign had begun.
Mr. Jubeir did not name the other countries involved in the military campaign, but said the coalition included other Persian Gulf nations. He said that American military forces were not involved in the airstrikes, but that the Saudis had consulted “very closely” with the Obama administration before launching the offensive.
The
Saudi-led campaign began as fighters and army units allied with the
Houthi movement threatened to overrun the southern port of Aden, where
the besieged president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has gone into hiding.
Yemen shares a long border with Saudi Arabia,
a major American ally, and the Saudis had been reported to be massing
forces on the Yemen frontier as Mr. Hadi’s last redoubt in Aden looked
increasingly imperiled.
The
rapid advances by the president’s opponents included the seizure of a
military air base and an aerial assault on his home. There were
unconfirmed reports that the president had fled the country by boat for
Djibouti, the tiny Horn of Africa nation across the Gulf of Aden.
The region’s most impoverished country, Yemen has been a central theater of the American fight against Al Qaeda,
and its possible collapse presents complex challenges to the Obama
administration as it struggles to deal with instability and radical
extremism in the Middle East. In 2011, the Central Intelligence Agency
built a base in the southern desert of Saudi Arabia to launch drone
strikes in Yemen.
Along
with Syria, Iraq and Libya, Yemen is now the fourth state to veer
toward political disintegration in the aftermath of the Arab Spring
revolts, which first erupted four years ago.
By
Wednesday morning, Houthi forces had seized Al Anad air base, which
until recently had been used by American counterterrorism forces, about
35 miles from Mr. Hadi’s refuge in Aden, the country’s second-largest
city.
A
television network under Houthi control said the rebel forces had found
the base empty and looted, and had captured two senior officers loyal
to Mr. Hadi, including his defense minister. A security official of Mr.
Hadi’s government confirmed the loss of Al Anad.
Photo
Yemeni
Air Force planes under Houthi control also struck targets near the
president’s Aden home, and his supporters returned fire with
antiaircraft guns. The state television network, also controlled by
Houthis, announced a $100,000 bounty for Mr. Hadi’s arrest as rumors
about his whereabouts swirled. By nightfall, there were reports that
Houthi forces were fighting around the Aden airport, on the outskirts of
the city.
Shortly
after the Saudi strikes began, witnesses in Sana, the capital, reported
that bombing had begun at the airport and that electrical power had
been cut.
A
spokeswoman for the National Security Council said Wednesday night that
the United States was providing intelligence and logistical support for
the campaign in Yemen, and that President Obama had authorized a “joint
planning cell” with Saudi Arabia to coordinate American support for the
military offensive.
Mr.
Hadi’s foreign minister reiterated his calls for intervention by Saudi
Arabia, Egypt and other Arab states to stop the Houthis, stoking fears
that their advance could set off a widening conflict.
The
country appeared to be sliding toward a civil war as dangerous as any
in the region, with elements of a sectarian feud, a regional proxy
conflict, the attempted return of an ousted authoritarian and the
expansion of anti-Western extremist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State that are eager to capitalize on the chaos.
The
Houthis, a minority religious group from northern Yemen, practice a
variant of Shiite Islam and receive support from Iran. But they are also
collaborating with Yemeni security forces still loyal to former
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the longtime strongman who was pushed from
power amid the Arab Spring uprising but now appears to be orchestrating
a comeback in alliance with the Houthis.
With Mr. Saleh’s help, the Houthis now control most of the Yemeni
military, including its air force.
That has given them a decisive
advantage over Mr. Hadi’s forces, as their seizure of the air base on
Wednesday made clear.
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