AFP/United Nations

Russia called on the UN Security Council yesterday to push for a pause in the air war in Yemen, as a Saudi-led coalition pounded rebels in the country for a 10th day.
Yemen’s main southern city, a last foothold of supporters of self-exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has been shaken by more than a week of clashes between Shia Houthi rebels and loyalist militia.
Coalition warplanes and ships bombarded rebel positions in Aden on the 10th night of Operation Decisive Storm.
A military source said at least 13 rebel fighters were killed.
For a second night, the coalition airdropped weapons and ammunition to supporters of Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia last month as the Iran-backed Houthis approached Aden.
“We thank the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all the Gulf countries, as well as our brothers in Arab countries, for dropping supplies,” said Ahmad Qassem al-Shaawi, a local militia chief.  
“God willing, we will be victorious and bravely carry on fighting as heroes, and fight off any attack.”
Russia, meanwhile, presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for a humanitarian pause in the air campaign to allow for the evacuation of foreigners, diplomats said.
The measure would demand “regular and obligatory humanitarian pauses in the air strikes... to allow all concerned states and international organisations to evacuate their citizens and personnel from Yemen”, the draft text said.
Russian deputy ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told reporters the pause would ensure that “when we evacuate people, to make sure it’s secure and safe”.
Aided by the strikes and arms drops, Hadi loyalists have managed to drive the rebels back from some parts of central Aden.
At least 185 dead and 1,282 wounded have been counted in hospitals in Aden since March 26, the city’s health department director Al-Kheder Lassouar said.
The toll does not include casualties among the rebels and their allies, who do not take their people to public hospitals, or victims of air raids, he said.
The coalition says it has no plans for now to deploy ground forces in Yemen.
But Saudi Arabia’s army and naval special forces have carried out specific operations, a Saudi adviser said, without revealing if they had actually set foot on the ground.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country is participating in the coalition, said securing the Bab al-Mandab access to the Red Sea off Yemen’s coast is a top priority.
And the Saudi adviser said special forces were also involved in operations against Houthi units on Myun Island in the strait, through which much of the world’s maritime trade passes.
Medics called on international organisations and Arab states participating in the coalition to provide emergency medical assistance to hospitals in Aden.
“Medicine stocks are exhausted and hospitals can no longer cope with the increasing number of victims,” Lassouar said.
The Red Cross said hospitals in Aden were overwhelmed by the casualties and fighting was making it nearly impossible for aid workers to move around.
Two brothers working for the Yemen Red Crescent Society were shot dead on Friday in the southern city while evacuating the wounded, it said.




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