Special to WorldTribune.com

Despite a plea from U.S. President Barack Obama to end hostilities in Yemen, Saudi-led warplanes carried out several attacks on Houthi rebel positions and loyalists of exiled president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi seized more ground in Aden.

Obama had phoned Saudi King Salman on July 14 to urge an end to the fighting, but Saudi-led warplanes launched six raids on rebel positions before dawn on July 15, according to witnesses and military sources.

In a July 14 offensive called Operation Golden Arrow, Hadi loyalists known as Popular Resistance recaptured an airport that had been held by the Iran-backed Houthis for four months.

Popular Resistance also seized the provincial government headquarters in the Mualla district by Aden’s main commercial port, militia spokesman Ali al-Ahmadi told AFP.

The militia, backed by Saudi trained and equipped reinforcements, retook the airport and much of the surrounding Khormaksar diplomatic district.

“After the recapture of Khormaksar, there was a collapse in the ranks of the Houthi and their allies,” Ahmadi said.

In retreat, the Houthi rebels launched Katyusha rockets that killed at least 12 civilians and wounded 105 others, Aden health department head Al-Khader Laswar told AFP.

The fighting came after the failure of a UN-declared six-day truce.

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