Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh may be in possession of chemical weapons, coalition spokesman and adviser at the office of the minister of defense Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Asiri said in Riyadh, Friday. Responding to a question, Al-Asiri did not rule out the possibility of Saleh keeping chemical weapons for personal purposes, saying that the allied forces are taking utmost caution and will chase them. Addressing the daily press briefing in Riyadh on the ninth day of the operation “Decisive Storm” on Friday, Al-Asiri hinted at starting ground offensive if required. “The allied forces impose total blockade on Yemen's air and sea sectors as well as its coasts, and hence nobody can enter or leave the country without the consent of the forces. The intense operation has incapacitated the Houthi militia tremendously and there was only isolated presence of the rebels in Aden and the borders with the Kingdom,” he said, adding that the forces continue targeting them to cut their supply lines. During the day, the Saudi-led coalition warplanes airdropped weapons and medical aid to fighters defending the southern Yemeni city of Aden. Reports also emerged that Houthi militants and their allies have withdrawn from the Crater neighborhood as well as one of Aden's presidential residences which they seized a day earlier. Their withdrawal followed overnight clashes and an airstrike on the presidential palace at Ma'ashiq, overlooking Crater. At least one Houthi tank was destroyed and another taken over by President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi's loyalists, they said. Airstrikes putting the Houthis on the back foot came as imams and khateebs at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah said in their Friday sermons that the wise and courageous decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to launch the military campaign has enabled the Muslim Ummah regain its prestige and hope, and help close ranks against the enemies, the Saudi Press Agency reported. In Makkah, Sheikh Saleh Al-Talib said that saving Yemen from the claws of invasion is a religious duty and fighting for it is a holy war (jihad) in the path of Allah. He also compared defending Yemen to defending the Rukn Al-Yamani (Yemeni Corner of the Holy Kaaba) the part of the Grand Mosque which the enemies have announced plans to occupy, besides threatening the security of the Two Holy Mosques and the Qibla of Muslims. The imam said that countering sectarianism from spreading in Yemen is an obligation for those who are capable of doing it. “Spread of sectarianism in Yemen was the result of certain people committing crimes in Iraq and Syria.” Highlighting Yemen's key role in the Islamic history and features of the Arab people of Yemen, Sheikh Al-Talib explained the Kingdom's efforts to extinguish fire of sedition in the neighboring country through promoting dialogue and preventing the country from sliding into a civil war. Sheikh Ali Al-Hudaifi, imam of the Prophet's Mosque, said Saudi Arabia responded to the plea for help from the oppressed neighboring country when its sovereignty was usurped and its people were denied their rights. He urged the Yemeni people to stand united in deterring evil and saving the nation from sedition. On the war front, planes from the coalition dropped crates of weapons and medical supplies by parachute over Tawahi, a district on the far end of Aden which is still held by President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi loyalists, fighters said. The crates included light weapons, telecommunications equipment and rocket-propelled grenades, they said. The Aden Al-Ghad newspaper published pictures of at least one wooden crate attached to a parachute, which it said had landed in Aden. Local men were seen loading the crates onto pickup trucks. The coalition, which is trying to reassert Hadi's authority as a prelude to political negotiations, has repeatedly said that sending ground troops into Yemen remains an option but not an automatic move. — With input from Agencies
