Saudi-led airstrikes get French backing

Saudi-led airstrikes hit a rebel base in central Yemen on Sunday and clashes raged in the southern city of Aden as France's foreign minister voiced Western support for the air campaign in Riyadh.

In the third week of airstrikes mounted by Saudi Arabia and its allies, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that France was "naturally on the side of its regional partners for the restoration of stability in Yemen", according to his entourage.

"Concerning Yemen, we are here to demonstrate our support, especially political, to the Saudi authorities," Fabius told reporters as he began a series of meetings with the Saudi leadership including King Salman.

Saudi Arabia, an important ally of France, leads a coalition of nine Arab countries that has carried out airstrikes since March 26 against the Houthi Shiite rebels who overran the capital Sanaa in September.

On Sunday, airstrikes continued to target positions of the Houthis and their allies.

A pre-dawn strike hit Camp 22 in Al-Dhahra in the south of Taez province killing 15 rebels, a medic at Al-Thawra hospital said.

The airstrikes also killed eight civilians, another medical source said.

Separately, an al-Qaida leader was killed in an apparent US drone strike on a group of militants west of the port city of Mukalla on the Arabian Sea, residents told Reuters.

It was the first reported drone strike against the powerful Yemeni branch of the global militant group since the US evacuated about 100 special forces troops advising Yemeni forces last month.

According to the United Nations, the conflict, in which the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in the north in September, has killed 600 people, wounded 2,200 and displaced 100,000 others.

Also on Sunday, hackers took over the social media accounts of Iran's Al-Alam television and posted material supportive of the Saudi-led air war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, the Arabic-language channel said.

Al-Alam accused the Saudi government of being behind the cyberattack in retaliation for the channel's critical coverage of the bombing campaign.

AFP - Reuters