Houthi positions in Taiz pounded

SANAA: Saudi-led coalition airstrikes hit a camp housing Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen’s third city Taiz on Friday, after a night of clashes and raids throughout the war-hit country, residents said.
Warplanes struck the camp, which was being used by a rebel army unit loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in central Taiz, they said.
The main southern city of Aden also came under coalition fire as clashes between supporters of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and rebels raged until dawn, pro-government militiamen told AFP.
Residents in Yemen’s eastern Marib province also reported overnight airstrikes and clashes between local tribesmen and rebel forces.
Meanwhile, a US Defense Department official says tension has abated over the prospect of Iranian cargo ships delivering advanced weaponry to the Houthis. The Iranian convoy is now headed back in the direction of Iran.
Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said he couldn’t be sure where the Iranian convoy was heading. But he said it reversed its original course and was proceeding well to the northeast of Yemen in the Arabian Sea.
Warren says the prospect of a confrontation between Iranian and American or coalition ships off the coast of Yemen has receded. While the Iranian convoy was headed toward Yemen earlier this week, the question arose whether the US would forcibly intercede before the ships arrived at a Yemeni port such as Aden.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Riad Yassine on Thursday accused Tehran of trying to break a naval blockade on his country, describing the war as an “Iranian plot implemented by the Houthi militia.”
In another development, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires Friday to protest after the Kingdom’s warplanes allegedly turned back flights headed for Yemen, whose airspace is controlled by the Saudi-led coalition. Iran’s objection was announced to him.