Warplanes have struck targets in Yemen for the second day since the Saudi-led coalition declared its bombing campaign was over .
Targets of the air strikes early on Thursday included tanks of the Iranian-supported Houthi movement in villages north of the port city of Aden and locations around Ibb in central Yemen.
Residents in the area told Reuters that a military base in the town of al-Kafr, unspecified sites in Hubaysh, as well as a college on the outskirts of Ibb and another in the city of Yarim were all hit.
The coalition announced an end to a month-old bombing campaign in Yemen on Tuesday but a Saudi spokesman said forces would continue to target the Houthi movement as necessary.
Air strikes on Wednesday hit Houthi tanks in Aden and a military base in Taiz taken over by Houthi fighters.
The continued offensive operations have cast doubt over hopes that a negotiated settlement to the conflict could follow Saudi Arabia’s surprise announcement it was ending its bombing campaign.
Nearly 950 people, 300 of them civilians, have been killed in the past four weeks and a major humanitarian crisis has erupted. The regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday described the damage to civilian life and property as “absolutely shocking” and called on all sides to allow the passage of emergency supplies.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he hoped for an end to fighting as soon as possible.
Saudi Arabia has pledged to continue to take action against Houthis, saying Operation Renewing Hope – the name for its next phase of its intervention – would focus on rebuilding the country, protecting civilians and supporting evacuation and relief operations while denying the rebels operational movement.
The Saudi statement was followed by a claim of victory from the deposed Saudi-backed Yemeni president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who said that he and his supporters would triumph. However, Hadi has not been restored and Houthi fighters are still in control of the capital, Sana’a.
In Aden late on Wednesday, five Houthi militia were killed at a checkpoint while fighting against local forces and eight other Houthi fighters were killed in heavy clashes in southern Dalea province, pro-Hadi fighters said.
Iran has expressed support for the Houthis – members of the Shia-linked Zaydi sect – but denies arming them, as Saudi Arabia claims. The conflict in the Arab world’s poorest country is essentially a local one being played out against a regional background of Saudi-Iranian and Sunni-Shia sectarian rivalry.
Iran has called for peace talks while the US president, Barack Obama, spoke of a move towards a political settlement but added he had sent a “very direct message” to Tehran, warning it not to send weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the region.
Earlier this week the US deployed additional warships off Yemen’s coast, partly in response a convoy of Iranian cargo ships in the Arabian sea that the US believes may carry arms bound for the Houthis.
France’s defence ministry said it deployed a minesweeper on Thursday in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait off Yemen to secure freedom of movement there.
