350 evacuated Indians reach Djibouti from Yemen - The Hindu

As many as 206 of the 350 Indian nationals evacuated from Aden in Yemen to Djibouti by INS Sumitra late on Tuesday hail from Kerala.

From there, they will be flown to India in two Air Force C-17 Globemasters. They are expected to reach Kochi and Mumbai late on Wednesday night.

Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd.) who has been tasked to oversee the operations greeted the people at Djibouti and said that, “You are safe now."

The first C-17 will reach Cochin as the majority of the evacuated belong to Kerala while the second one will land in Mumbai, Defence Ministry officials said.

Among the 350 persons evacuated, 206 hail from Kerala while 40 are from Tamil Nadu. The remaining belong to Maharastra (31), West Bengal (23), Delhi (22), Karnataka (15), and Andhra Pradesh/Telangana (13), an External Affairs Ministry source said.

PTI adds:

Evacuation took place after India got permission to dock its offshore patrol vessel INS Sumitra at the Aden harbour as the government launched a massive air and sea operation, christened 'Operation Raahat', to bring back its over 4,000 nationals in Yemen.

INS Sumitra, which has been deployed for anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden since March 11, was the first to undertake evacuation from Yemen. The ship was re-deployed off the Port of Aden on March 30 and thereafter entered Aden Harbour last evening.

It waited for hours to get local clearances as heavy fighting was reported in the city. While the ship has self-defence weapons, it cannot protect itself against multiple hand-held weapons or shoulder fired missiles.

“The ship evacuated 349 Indians from Aden. On disembarkation of these personnel at Djibouti, the ship is scheduled to return to Aden to undertake further evacuation, if required,” a statement by the Navy said.

Indian Navy ships Mumbai and Tarkash also sailed from Mumbai on March 30 as part of Operation Raahat.

The ships will escort two passenger vessels, Kavaratti and Corals, through the piracy risk area off the Coast of Somalia. These passenger vessels had sailed from Kochi on March 30 to Djibouti.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded Yemen’s Shia rebels for a sixth day on Tuesday, destroying missiles and weapons depots and for the first time using warships to bomb the rebel-held airport and eastern outskirts of the port city of Aden.

Who are fighting whom?

• › Houthis:
  
  The rebel group controls nine of 21 provinces now


• › Saudi-led coalition:
  
  Here are some of those who are participating and what they are deploying:
  
  Saudi Arabia: 100 fighter jets, 150,000 soldiers and some naval units
  
  UAE: 30 fighter jets
  
  Bahrain: 15 fighter jets
  
  Kuwait: 15 fighter jets
  
  Qatar:10 fighter jets
  
  Jordan:6 fighter jets
  
  Sudan:3 fighter jets
  
  Egypt: naval and air forces involved.


• › Yemeni security forces:
  
  The military is now split as units that support Mr. Hadi, units that support the Houthis, and units that support a still-influential Saleh, who is in the Houthi camp for now


• › Popular Resistance Committees:
  
  Militia loyal to Hadi in his stronghold of south Yemen.


• › AQAP: Mr. Hadi and Houthis are fighting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has staged several attacks in the country and is strong in the south. Active since 2009. AQAP has taken advantage of the power struggle.


• › IS: A new group of militants inspired by the Islamic State group has claimed major attacks, including suicide bombings which killed at least 142 people at Shia mosques in Sana’a.


• › U.S.: CIA drones have continued to target top AQAP leaders, but the campaign has suffered from Mr. Hadi’s absence. Last week, U.S. military advisers were withdrawn from a southern base as al-Qaeda militants seized a nearby city.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis are followers of the Shia Zaidi sect, the faith of around a third of Yemen’s population. Officially known as Ansarallah (the partisans of God), the group began as a movement preaching tolerance and peace in the Zaidi stronghold of North Yemen in the early 1990s.

After some protests pitted it against the government, the group launched an insurgency in 2004 against the then ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh that lasted till 2010. Their opponents view them as a proxy of Shia Iran. The group is hostile to the United States but has also vowed to eradicate al-Qaeda. They participated in the 2011 Arab Spring inspired revolution in Yemen that replaced Saleh with Abdrahbu Mansour Hadi.

Key dates to the Yemen conflict

• › September 21, 2014: Houthi rebels seize government and military sites in Sana’a after several days of fighting that killed more than 270 people. Rival groups sign a U.N.-brokered peace deal stipulating a Houthi withdrawal from the capital and formation of a new government.


• › October 9, 2014: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has declared war on the Houthis, claims an attack in Sana’a in which 47 are killed.


• › October 14, 2014: The Houthis seize the Red Sea port of Hodeida, 230 km west of Sana’a, then move toward the centre without opposition from government forces but face fierce resistance from AQAP and its tribal allies.


• › January 20, 2015: Houthis attack Mr. Hadi’s residence and seize the presidential palace, and the President and Prime Minister resign two days later.


• › February 6, 2015: The rebels announce they have dissolved Parliament and installed a presidential council to run the country. The United States and Gulf monarchies accuse Iran of backing the Houthis. In the south and southeast, authorities reject what they brand a coup attempt.


• › February 21, 2015: Mr. Hadi flees south to Aden after escaping from weeks under house arrest and urges the international community to “reject the coup,” rescinding his resignation and subsequently declaring Aden the temporary capital.


• › March 19, 2015: Clashes in which at least 11 are killed force the closure of the international airport in Aden and Mr. Hadi is moved to a more secure location after an air raid on the presidential palace there.


• › March 22, 2015: The Houthis advance southwards, seizing the airport and a nearby military base in Taez, north of Aden and a strategic entry point to Mr. Hadi’s stronghold. Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi says the rebels have moved south to combat Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.


• › March 25, 2015: Mr. Hadi is again moved as rebel forces bear down on Aden, capturing a major airbase nearby just days after U.S. military personnel were evacuated from it.

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