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Exiled Yemeni PM returns to Aden

Xinhua, August 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Exiled Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah arrived in the country's southern port city of Aden on Saturday, as the pro-government forces were on the momentum to retake key cities in the south.

Bahah, who is also the vice president, and six ministers of the exiled government landed in the Aden International Airport by a Saudi plane, with protection of soldiers of the Saudi-led coalition on Saturday, sources at the airport told Xinhua.

The prime minister will hold meetings with anti-Houthi forces in Aden on military operations in neighboring Lahj and Abyan provinces, security sources said, adding that the ministers will also focus on rebuilding efforts and aid delivery.

The Saudi-led coalition has fought against the Shiite Houthi militia and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Aden since late March when the Houthis were besieging the city.

Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was ousted by the Shiite Houthi group who had controlled the capital Sanaa since September.

He fled to Aden, the temporary capital as he declared, in late February after weeks of house arrest, and has been taking refuge with his cabinet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh since March 26.

Bahah announced "liberation" of Aden on July 17, saying "it is the first step to liberate the whole country."

Meanwhile, airstrikes launched by the coalition killed at least 25 Houthis in Yemen's central province of Marib, security sources told Xinhua on Saturday.

They said the warplanes pounded Houthi targets overnight in Jafna and Balak areas, while ground battles continued in the oil-rich province between pro-Hadi forces and the Houthis.

The airstrikes also targeted the 35th brigade in the Red Sea port city of Mokha in Taiz province, which is loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and military sites in Lahj province.

Meanwhile, the Houthi group said it fired rockets against military targets in Saudi Arabia's southern provinces of Najran and Aseer, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reported late on Friday.

In response, the Saudi interior ministry said the rocket shelling killed three Saudi soldiers and injured seven border guards, according to the Saudi official SPA news agency report. Endit