The city of Aden enjoyed calm on Sunday, on the first day of Eid al-Adha, after four days of clashes in the temporary Yemeni capital between government forces and the Southern Transitional Council (STC).
The crucial intervention of the Arab Coalition in Aden led to the de-escalation of tension in the southern port city after it asked the Yemeni warring parties to stop the fighting and head to Riyadh for talks.
The Saudi foreign ministry called for an emergency meeting in the Kingdom.
However, the STC issued conflicting stances on such calls.
The legitimate government welcomed the Coalition's call for all military units of the STC to withdraw from positions they seized during the past few days and not to harm public and private possessions.
Government sources confirmed that Yemeni Interior Minister Ahmed el-Meseery, Minister of Transport Saleh al-Jabwani and Commander of the Fourth Military Region Major General Fadel Hassan headed to Riyadh on Sunday.
Reports said that Mahran Qubati, Fourth Brigade commander, was killed on Saturday during fighting that led to the STC’s control of a camp north of Aden.
Amid conflicting reports about the number of victims, the office of the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the country said in a statement on Sunday that as many as 40 people have been killed and 260 injured in Aden since Aug. 8, when the latest round of fighting broke out, citing preliminary reports.
Caroline Seguin, Doctors Without Borders’ head of programs in Yemen, said in a statement that MSF treated 119 people in its hospital in less than 24 hours.
Sixty-two of the people treated by MSF required emergency inpatient care, said Seguin.
In a related development, the international airport of Aden resumed operations on Sunday after four days of intense street fighting.
