Yemen president, Hadi, leaves country amidst attacks

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, president of Yemen, on Thursday left the country’s southern city of Aden for Ridayh, Saudi Arabia’s capital.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Hadi will be seeking support for the ongoing Saudi-led military offensive against Houthi rebels .

Yemen has been under attacks from Houthi rebels since 2004 when their rebellion started in the northern town of Sadaa.

Rights group Amnesty International said at least six children were among 25 people killed in air strikes in the capital on Thursday.
Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said in a televised speech that Yemenis would “confront the criminal, unjust and unjustified aggression” by Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the White House said that the US was coordinating military and intelligence support with the Saudis, but would not be taking part directly in the strikes.

Jeff Rathke, a US state department spokesman, said on Thursday that the US government “understands the concerns” of Saudi and would remain “supportive of their effort”.

This is coming after there the rumour that the president fled the country to an undisclosed location, but the rumours were quickly dispelled by a government official.

Federica Mogherini, the high representative and vice president of the European Union, opposed the strikes, saying the operations have “dramatically worsened the already-fragile situation” and risk “having serious regional consequences”.