Update | Saudi Arabia blames ‘technical failure’ for fighter jet crash, as air strikes continue
US forces rescue two pilots who ejected from their F-15 fighter jet following a technical fault during a bombing mission on Yemen
Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed rebel camps in Yemen for a second day on Friday, as President Barack Obama said the United States shared a “collective goal” with its regional ally to see stability in the war-torn state.
Obama offered support to Saudi ruler King Salman in a phone conversation as it emerged the US military had rescued two Saudi pilots forced to eject from their fighter jet in the region on Thursday.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s navy evacuated dozens of foreign diplomats from the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, state television reported..
“The Saudi Royal Navy implemented an operation called Hurricane to evacuate dozens of diplomats, including Saudis, from Aden,” state news broadcaster Al Ekhbariya TV said.
It added that the diplomats had arrived safely at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Jeddah.
A months-long rebellion by Shiite fighters in Yemen has escalated into a regional conflict that threatens to tear apart the impoverished state at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the fall of embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, accusing Shiite Iran of “aggression” and of backing the Houthi rebels’ power grab.