What’s happening in Yemen today
4.3.2015 edition
By the Reported.ly Team
We are creating a daily rundown of events in Yemen as Saudi Arabian-led airstrikes against Houthis that began March 26 continue. The Houthi militia has been fighting the Yemeni government for nearly a decade, and in recent months has made enormous gains across the country, including capturing the capital, Sana’a.
For an explanation of what happened in the first few days of the military action, read our synopsis.
Update 6:26 p.m. (1:26 a.m GMT)
In Asir: Two border guards killed
A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia said two border guards have died.
The exchange took place on Friday night. The guards were “exposed to heavy fire from an opposite mountainous area inside the Yemeni border.”
The guards were named: First Private Mohammed bin Hamoud bin Mohammed Al-Harbi and Private Abdurrahman bin Meeri bin Mohammed Al-Qahtani.
American advocacy groups begin campaign to help U.S. citizens in Yemen
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus (ALC) announced a new campaign: StuckInYemen.
The campaign is meant to collect names of Americans in Yemen who need assistance and to push the U.S. government to change their stance on evacuating citizens.
On day 9, arms dropped into Aden
Brig Gen. Ahmed Asiri confirmed during a press briefing that arms had been dropped into Aden by coalition forces.
Arms dropped included: crates of light weapons, telecommunications equipment and rocket-propelled grenades, according to Reuters.
“The militias are holed in Aden. We are dealing with them in order to isolate the city of Aden from any external support,” Asiri said.
Update 11.30 a.m. ET ( 6.30 p.m. GMT)
BBC’s Frank Gardner tweets on Friday that “Saudi sources confirm arms drops in Aden to Hadi loyalists fighting Houthi rebels. Saudi operatives briefly on the ground coordinating”.
Our round-up of evacuations from Yemen by nationality
Turkey Interior Minister Çavuşoğlu announced that 55 Turkish citizens were evacuated from Yemen by sea.
India has been evacuating its citizens to Djibouti by boat, then via air. 350 were evacuated this way on April 1. Air India to fly into Sana’a “to bring 500 more Indians out of Yemen today”. India has also acceded to a request to evacuate 75–100 Sri Lankans from Yemen.
Russia evacuated 300 of its citizens from Sana’a by air, after being initially denied landing. The Russian Navy also evacuated Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Egyptian, Jordanian & Libyan citizens from Aden on March 31 (via RT). Russian media reported that the Russian consulate in Aden was damaged by coalition airstrikes, and looted by Houthis.
China’s navy evacuated 622 of its own nationals and 225 people of 10 nationalities. Pakistan, Ethiopia, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Britain, Canada and Yemen requested China’s help in evacuating nationals. The Chinese evacuation from Aden yesterday was reportedly fired upon, 34 evacuees left behind, briefly mistaken for invasion.
Saudi Arabia & Oman are opening border crossings for Egyptians stranded in Yemen. Conversely, several Yemenis stuck in Egypt protested in front of their embassy in Cairo on March 31.
500 Pakistanis were evacuated by plane last Sunday, and 176 by the Chinese Navy from Aden yesterday.
Indonesia plans to evacuate 4,000 citizens by air, and was also asked to help Sri Lankans evacuate.
Thais in Yemen were warned to “heighten self-protection”. Vague coordination plan to evacuate them news.thaivisa.com/thaivisa-news/…
Bangladesh asked IOM & India to help them evacuate 1,500–3,000 citizens from Yemen, and sent a team of officials to coordinate the process.
Somalia announced plans to evacuate its citizens last week. 62 Somalis arrived in Puntland in a small boat on April 1. 32 Yemenis, including elderly people and children arrived in Somalia’s port city of Berbera on the same day. Up to 238,000 Somalis reside in Yemen, according to the UNHCR.
The U.S. evacuated its Sana’a embassy last September, but has no plans for a government-sponsored evacuation of U.S. citizens. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) started the Stuck In Yemen initiative to help Yemeni-Americans stranded in the country.
