Riyadh - MENA
The seventh Saudi plane laden with 10 tons of medical equipment arrived on Saturday in the Yemeni airport of Aden.
King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid official spokesman, Raafat Al-Sabbagh, pointed out that the assistance comes under directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to provide urgent aid to the Yemeni people and the order issued by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense to provide cargo planes of Royal Saudi Air Forces for running an airlift to transport relief and humanitarian aid being provided by King Salman Center.
Saudi Arabia has spearheaded Arab intervention in Yemen in March in response to requests for assistance from the internationally recognized but domestically contested Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The request was due to a Houthi offensive aimed at its provisional capital of Aden. President Hadi fled Aden and went to Saudi Arabia as Saudi Arabia and its allies launched airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was deposed in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Fighter jets from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain are also taking part in the operation.