Saudi-led warplanes bombed Aden airport: Houthis

(Anadolu Agency)- The Shiite Houthi militant group on Friday claimed that Saudi-led warplanes have destroyed the presidential airplane during an attack on Aden International Airport in southern Yemen.

The pro-Houthi Al-Massira television channel on Friday reported that the Gulf-Arab forces have dropped 30 rockets on Aden International Airport, leaving the presidential airplane completely destroyed.

The broadcaster did not specify the time of the alleged airstrikes, on which the Saudi-led coalition has yet to comment.

Earlier on Friday, security sources and eyewitnesses in Aden told The Anadolu Agency that Saudi-led warplanes had staged a dawn strike on Aden's presidential palace, prompting the Houthis to retreat hours after having captured the premises.

Embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi fled to Aden in February from Houthi-held Sanaa in hopes of reinstating his embattled presidency from the southern city.

However, the Gulf-backed president fled to Saudi capital Riyadh late last month after Houthi militants struck his Aden residence.

For the past eight days, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have been pounding Houthi positions across Yemen.

Riyadh says its anti-Houthi campaign comes in response to Hadi's appeals to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."

The United States, for its part, has offered "logistical and intelligence support" for the ongoing anti-Houthi offensive.

For their part, the Houthis have considered the military campaign a "Saudi-American onslaught" and a "blatant violation of Yemeni territories."

Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country.

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.