Yemen thanks UAE over restoring operation of Aden Airport

Eng. Tariq Abdou Ali, Director of Aden International Airport has thanked the UAE for restoring the operation of Aden International Airport, which is a main artery for southern Yemen.

He told Al Ittihad daily in a statement that the UAE has fully restored the airport after the liberation of the city.

Ali added that the airport would receive civil flights in September after hiatus of five months caused by the war initiated by Al Houthi rebels and deposed Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

He added that a specialised UAE company's technical team arrived yesterday to fix the airport tower damaged during the conflict.

A technical team from the UAE repaired the tower and passenger terminal at Aden international airport, which had been heavily damaged in clashes before the rebels were driven out, and the first aid ship to dock in Aden for four months arrived from the UAE with 2,315 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

The Houthis would not be returning, Mr Al Bakri said, and he urged Yemenis who had fled Aden to come back and participate in its reconstruction.

In Riyadh, Mr Hadi’s exiled government issued an order for Popular Resistance militia units fighting alongside loyalist troops against the rebels to be merged into the armed forces.

The supreme defence council, chaired by Mr Hadi, said the decision was a reward for their “brave contribution to defending the homeland”.

The loyalists pushed back rebels in Lahoum, on Aden’s northern outskirts, following heavy fighting in which 12 rebels were killed.

The area lies on the road to Lahj, where loyalists have been tightening the noose on rebels with the aim of recapturing the strategic Al Anad airbase.

Saudi-led air strikes hit Houthi targets near the base, as well as in the town of Dhalea and in Saada province in the north.

In the central city of Taiz, 10 Houthi fighters and five loyalist soldiers were killed in fighting.

Violence also continued in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which is still occupied by the rebels. Three people died and seven were injured when ISIL extremists detonated a car bomb outside an Ismaili Shiite mosque in an eastern area of the city.

The extremists said the attack on Al Faydh Alhatemy mosque in Nuqum district was revenge for Ismaili support for the Houthis.