Aden - The commanders of a vast military district in Yemen have backed the exiled president as the leader of Huthi rebels vowed to never submit in the face of a Saudi-led air war.
The Saudi-led air strikes continued on Monday and a series of explosions shook the Yemeni capital after warplanes hit a missile depot in Sanaa belonging to troops allied with the Shiite rebels.
In a vital show of support for President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, the military command of 25,000 troops in Yemen's largest province said they were standing behind the embattled leader.
"The officers, non-commissioned officers and the soldiers of the First Military Region based in Hadramawt back President Hadi, who represents constitutional legitimacy," their chief, General Abdelrahman Al-Halili, said in a statement.
The military district extends from Yemen's eastern border with Oman to the Saudi frontier to the north and includes several oil fields.
The pledge came after Yemeni authorities called last week for military commanders to show their support against the Iran-backed Huthi militiamen.
The Shiite rebels have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula nation, including the capital Sanaa, and fought fierce battles with pro-government forces.
A coalition of Sunni Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia launched the air campaign against the rebels last month, vowing to restore the authority of Hadi, who fled to Riyadh as the militiamen advanced on his southern stronghold of Aden.
Thick smoke billowed from the site of a missile base on Fajj Attan hill in the south of Sanaa after it was hit by warplanes, while buildings in several neighbourhoods of the capital were shaken, witnesses said.
The base belongs to the elite Republican Guard, which remains loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who has been accused of siding with Huthi rebels in their fight against the government.
Pre-dawn strikes targeted Aden's airport and rebel positions in other parts of the city on Monday, sources in pro-government forces said.
Fighting raged elsewhere in the south, with at least 21 Huthis killed in the cities of Dahleh and Huta, sources said.
Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, the spokesman for the coalition, said Sunday that it had launched more than 2,000 air strikes since the start of the operation.
AFP
