Saudi-led coalition sets deadline for Houthi weapons withdrawal from Sanaa airport -Al Arabiya

(Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Saturday set the Iran-aligned group Houthis a three-hour deadline to withdraw weapons from the airport of Sanaa and from two ports on the Pink Sea, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported.

Retaining weapons within the Yemeni capital’s airport and the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef would “finish their standing” as protected areas to not be focused by coalition air strikes, it stated, with out saying precisely at what time the deadline would expire.

The coalition stated earlier on Saturday it was finishing up air strikes on Sanaa and Hodeidah in response to Houthi assaults on Saudi oil services.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the Saudi-backed authorities in late 2014.

The battle, broadly seen as a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has killed tens of hundreds of individuals and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Modifying by Barbara Lewis and Alexander Smith)