Saudi Arabia and coalition partners have launched a series of air strikes on areas held by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Overnight, Saudi jets targeted Houthi strongholds in the capital Sanaa, along with rebel-controlled missile batteries and warplanes, with the aim of “defending the legitimate government” of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

At a news conference on Wednesday night, the Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel Al-Jubeir, announced the launch of “Operation Storm of Resolve”.

He said:
“The use of force is always the last resort, and it is with great reluctance that we took this step along with our partners in the GCC countries as well as outside of the GCC countries.

“We have a coalition of over ten countries that will take part in these operations to prevent Yemen from falling at the hands of the Houthis.”

President Hadi had taken refuge in the southern port city of Aden since the Houthis took control of the capital in September 2014. However, as fighting inched closer to the city and with Houthi-piloted fighter jets flying over the presidential palace, Hadi fled the city earlier in the week.

Officials deny the rumours the Hadi has fled the country, but his whereabouts remains unknown.

Houthi officials warned that intervention by the Sunni state of Saudi Arabia against the Shia-led rebels in Yemen risked provoking a wider war in the region and bring the Shia-led state of Iran into the conflict.

The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reports Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that Iran “will make all efforts to control [the]crisis in Yemen”.