Saudi Airstrikes In Yemen Continue After Houthis Seize Base Near Taiz

A Houthi fighter fires at forces guarding the Presidential Palace during clashes in Sanaa January 19, 2015. (REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

Though the Sunni kingdom announced late Tuesday that it would halt the air campaign in Yemen, the Saudi airstrikes continued Wednesday in the city of Taiz. The airstrikes in Taiz came after Houthi rebels reportedly seized a strategic base just outside the city, and a report from the Iranian Tasnim news agency indicating the regime in Tehran was looking for a way out of a quickly escalating situation.

“We are optimistic that in the coming hours, after many efforts, we will see a halt to military attacks in Yemen,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by Tasnim.

The development came just two days after U.S. President Barack Obama late Monday ordered the USS Theodore Roosevelt to join the battle fleet in the Persian Gulf. Though the White House tried to push back on the claim Tuesday, Pentagon officials tell PPD the mission was to intercept if necessary shipments of Iranian weapons to the rebels, bringing the number of U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf to at least 9.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, himself, took to Twitter to reenforce reports claiming Iran was willing to put a lease on their Shiite militant rebels.

Positive developments in #Yemen should be followed by urgent humanitarian assistance, intra-Yemeni dialogue&broad-based govt. Ready to help.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 21, 2015

The Iranian-backed former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose support for the Houthis aided their territorial gains and contributed to his ouster, also publicly urged a halt to the conflict.

“We hope that everybody will return to dialogue to solve and treat all the issues,” he said in a statement right before the Houthis attacked the base outside of Taiz. Now, despite the calls for dialogue, heavy fighting continued Wednesday in the port city of Aden.

Saudi Arabia began leading a coalition of allied Arab countries in a bombing campaign against the Houthis in late March. The Iran-backed Shiite rebel militants, whose official slogan is “Death to Israel, Death to America,” seized control of the capital of Sanaa and forced the resignation of U.S.- and Saudi-backed former President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The Strait of Bab el Mandeb (West Operations Area) and Strait of Hormuz (South Operations Area) sandwiches the currently embattled and disputed country of Yemen.

Iran has long sought to isolate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their Sunni-dominated arch nemesis across the Gulf. However, control of both the West Operations Area (Bab el Mandeb) and South Operations Area (Hormuz) through proxy states or directly would not only achieve that goal, but also allow them to gain significant control over the Middle East oil supply and global oil markets.

The violence in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation, has resulted in extensive civilian casualties. As of now, it is less than clear whether that violence will end anytime soon. Though Saudi officials maintained Tuesday that they had achieved their goals in launching the intervention, their stated objective at its outset — the restoration of Hadi to power — remains uncompleted.

At least 944 people have died in the fighting.

Saudi Arabia is still gearing up to shift its military strategy to include special forces training Sunni militiamen in southern Yemen, who vowed never to lay down their weapons against Houthi rebels. Fighting continued Wednesday in the port city of Aden,