SANAA: Heavy Saudi-led air strikes targeted several airports on Monday across Yemen even as the kingdom’s foreign minister said officials were considering a ceasefire to allow aid into the Arab world’s poorest country, while Senegal announced it would be contributing troops to back the Saudi-led coalition.

In the southern city of Aden, more than 150 air strikes hit the city’s airport, witnesses and security officials said. Shia rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies are locked in fierce fighting there against forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Monday’s air strikes also hit airports in the city of Hodeida and the capital, Sanaa, witnesses and officials said.

Take a look: Saudi-led troops in ‘limited Yemen deployment’

They said other air strikes targeted Yemen’s eastern province of Marib and the Houthi stronghold of Saada, while clashes in Aden left buildings ablaze and the Saudi-led coalition airdropped weapons to tribes allied with Hadi’s government in Marib.

Senegalese Foreign Affairs Minister Mankeur Ndiaye said his country is sending 2,100 soldiers to help back the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, becoming the first sub-Saharan African country to contribute soldiers to the effort.

Senegal has received significant financial investments from the kingdom in recent years. Senegalese President Macky Sall met last month with the Saudi king, who solicited troop contributions at that time.

Iranian-allied Houthi reb­els, along with security personnel loyal to ousted Presi­dent Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been targeted by Saudi-led air strikes since late March. On Monday, newly appointed Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said coalition countries were considering a ceasefire to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2015

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