SANAA
Warplanes launched a fresh series of airstrikes Thursday against camps used by the Houthi militants and loyalists of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in capital Sanaa, local residents have confirmed.
Locals said the airstrikes targeted Camp 8 of Saleh loyalists southern of Sanaa, citing smoke pillowing out of the camp.
The jets also destroyed an air defense site in the area, they added.
Source, meanwhile, said warplanes struck a Saleh-affiliated camp in southern Yemen.
In the northern Saada province, local sources said, jets targeted military camps and arms depots controlled by the Shiite militants.
They also bombed an arms depot near As Salif port.
Several Arab states have joined the Saudi-led offensive, which kicked off late Wednesday with a string of airstrikes against the positions of the Houthi Shiite militant group in Yemen, including some in capital Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to calls by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for military intervention to "save the people from the Houthi militias."
Fractious Yemen has been in turmoil since last September, when the Shiite militants overran capital Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country as well.
Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting the Houthi insurgency.
