Special to WorldTribune.com

Exiled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in the country’s second city of Aden on Sept. 22 and vowed to swiftly reclaim the capital Sanaa from Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Hadi, who was in exile in Saudi Arabia for six months, arrived in Aden hours before a Saudi-led coalition air strike killed at least 21 people in Sanaa and a day after Houthi sympathizers took to the streets to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the rebels taking the capital.

The internationally recognized leader of Yemen, Hadi arrived in Aden aboard a Saudi military aircraft that landed at an airbase adjoining the civilian airport in the southern port city.

Hadi pledged to quickly return to Sanaa. “The return to the capital Sanaa will come soon after the liberation of all cities and provinces,” Hadi said.

In New York, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, a spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said the UN chief was “extremely concerned by the escalating ground fighting and airstrikes that have caused … an ever-growing number of civilian casualties in recent days.”

Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and several ministers returned to Aden last week, two months after it was retaken from the rebels.

“Aden will be the key to Yemen’s salvation,” Hadi said in July during a televised address marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Since then, the Saudi-led coalition has gained the upper hand, driving the Houthis from five southern provinces. A key front in the war is now in oil-rich Marib province east of the capital. The rebels still control much of northern and central Yemen.

Hadi loyalists began an all-out offensive against the Houthis in Marib on Sept. 13.

Meanwhile, a U.S. drone strike killed two suspected members of Al Qaida east of Sanaa, an official said on Sept. 22.

“Two members of Al Qaida were killed when a missile from a U.S. drone hit their vehicle” on the outskirts of Marib during the night.

Al Qaida said in June that its leader in Yemen, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, had been killed by a U.S. drone.

  Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Aden, Exiled Yemen president returns to Aden, Houthi rebels, Sanaa, vows to retake capital, WorldTribune.com