– Aid trickles in –
Aid has only trickled into Yemen, largely because of Saudi-led coalition restrictions on its airspace and ports.
On Friday, the coalition spokesman said two cargos of supplies donated by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had reached Aden and the Red Sea city of Hodeida, via Djibouti, across the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Brigadier General Ahmed al Assiri told reporters in Riyadh that “other cargos will follow in the coming days” in a “sea bridge to get aid to the Yemeni people.”
But he insisted that shipments must be coordinated with the coalition.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders separately said that “more than 70 tonnes of medical material” arrived by plane in Sanaa on Saturday.
The Huthi rebels swept into the capital in September from their highland stronghold and then advanced south on the major port of Aden, forcing Hadi to flee to Riyadh.
Assiri said a Saudi soldier was killed on Friday in fighting in the southwestern Saudi region of Najran, along the Yemeni border.
The spokesman added the coalition had launched more than 2,000 air strikes on Yemen since the air campaign began.
The bombing campaign was launched amid Saudi fears the Huthis would shift Yemen into the orbit of Iran, the Shiite rival of the Sunni kingdom.
Tehran is a key ally of the Huthis but denies arming the rebels, who have allied with army units loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president forced out in a 2011 uprising.
On Friday, Tehran submitted a four point Yemen peace plan to UN chief Ban Ki moon.
It calls for a ceasefire and immediate end to all foreign military attacks, the urgent delivery of humanitarian and medical aid, a resumption of political talks and the formation of a national unity government.
Al Qaeda has taken advantage of the air war on the Huthis to expand its influence in Yemen, overrunning Friday an army camp in the southern province of Hadramawt, a day after seizing the airport in provincial capital Mukalla.
A US drone killed on Saturday night three Al Qaeda suspects as it struck a vehicle in Saeed, in Shabwa province, a tribal chief said.
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