THE Saudi-led coalition carrying out air strikes on Yemen said at the weekend that it had now conducted more than a thousand raids on the ravaged country.

The latest raid hit a base in central Yemen yesterday, killing 15 rebels, and 12 people died in overnight fighting in the southern city of Aden.

The pre-dawn strike, which hit a Republican Guard base in the south of Taez province, also injured eight other troops.

The Republican Guard remained loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh after he was overthrown in 2012.

Mr Saleh has allied his followers with the Houthi rebels who overran the capital Sanaa in September during their advance against forces loyal to fugitive President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The Saudi-led coalition said on Saturday that it had conducted 1,200 air strikes since March 26 in its bid to support President Hadi, claiming to have neutralised the rebels’ air and missile capabilities.

Meanwhile, four civilians were shot dead in the city’s Mualla and Dar Saad districts on Saturday.

And in Aden, five rebels and three loyalist militiamen were killed in clashes as the rebels advanced on an oil refinery.

The Saudi Defence Ministry also said rebels had killed three of its border guards with a mortar attack in the Saudi province of Najran.

The ministry said 500 Houthi fighters had been killed in clashes along the border since the air strikes began.

Elsewhere, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had landed a shipment consisting of more than 35 tons of medical aid, generators and emergency sanitation equipment.

The first such delivery to the capital landed on Friday, but Saturday’s shipment was more than double the size of the previous one.

The Saudi-led coalition has imposed a virtual air and sea blockade on Yemen.

Aid groups say they are struggling to cope with rising a number of casualties and shrinking food and fuel supplies.

Since the air strikes began, fighting has flared in 15 of Yemen’s 22 provinces.

These include Aden, Daleh, Lahj, Abyan and Shabwa in the formerly independent south.

By Our Foreign Desk