Flight operations to resume at Aden airport after deadly blasts

The Yemen government has announced that flight operations will resume at the international airport of Aden on Sunday, days after it was hit by deadly blasts.

A report by the state-run <em>Saba News Agency</em> said: "Minister of Transportation Abdul-Salam Hamid inspected the rehabilitation process of Aden Airport and directed the authorities to resume the flight operations starting from tomorrow (Sunday)."

The Minister said that "the treacherous terrorist attack on the airport will not deter us from activating and preserving state institutions despite difficulties and obstacles", <em>Xinhua news agency</em> quoted the Saba report as saying.

He praised "the efforts made by the Aviation Authority and the airport administration in equipping the airport and repairing the damage caused as a result of the attacks".

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government accused the Houthi rebel group of carrying out the deadly attack on December 30 using ballistic missiles.

According to the country's health authorities, 25 people were killed and 110 others injured, including international aid workers and media persons, in the three massive explosions that struck the Aden airport in Yemen just minutes after the arrival of members of a new power-sharing government from Saudi Arabia.

The southern port city of Aden is considered Yemen's temporary capital where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has been based since 2015.

Earlier this month, President Abu Rabbu Mansour Hadi issued a decree to form a new power-sharing government in Yemen led by Saeed, a move that received regional and international welcome.

The new government consists of 24 ministerial portfolios, divided equally between the northern and southern provinces in Yemen.

The new Yemeni government was established in accordance with the terms of the Riyadh Peace Agreement jointly signed in November 2019 between the Yemeni government and the leaders of the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

In 2019, Saudi Arabia persuaded the STC and the Yemeni government to hold reconciliation talks, which resulted in a deal to form a new technocratic cabinet of no more than 24 ministers.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since late 2014, when the Houthi rebels overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa.

<em>(IANS)</em>.