SANAA, Yemen — Shiite rebels and allied troops overran the capital of an oil-rich Yemeni province in a heavily Sunni area on Thursday, making significant territorial gains despite Saudi-led airstrikes, now entering their third week.
Iran, which is trying to garner international support to stop the bombing, stepped up its condemnation, with the supreme leader calling the air campaign “genocide.”
The rebel fighters, known as Houthis, along with military units loyal to former autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, overran Ataq, the capital of oil-rich Shabwa province, after days of airstrikes and clashes with local Sunni tribes.
The Saudi-led coalition has imposed an air and sea blockade on Yemen and targeted the rebels and their allies to try to create a safe corridor that would allow the return of Yemen’s internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the country last month.
The conflict pits the Saudi-led Sunni Gulf Arab coalition against Shiite rival Iran, which supports the Houthis and has provided humanitarian aid, though both Iran and the rebels deny it has armed them.
The growing regional involvement risks transforming what until now has been a complex power struggle into a full-blown sectarian conflict like those raging in Syria and Iraq.
On Thursday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, compared the Saudi-led strikes to Israel’s bombing in the Gaza Strip. “This is a crime, genocide and legally pursuable,” he said, according to his website. “It is necessary for the Saudis to withdraw from disastrous crimes. … Yemenis will resist and will win.”
He also lashed out at what he called “a few inexperienced young men” controlling affairs in Saudi Arabia — a veiled reference to the Saudi king’s son, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who is leading the air campaign. “They prefer barbaric behavior over dignity,” Khamenei said.
In a speech in Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged a cease-fire in Yemen to allow for broad-based talks on resolving the crisis.
“To the countries in the region, I say, let’s adopt the spirit of brotherhood. Let’s respect each other and other nations,” Rouhani said. “Do not kill innocent children. Let’s think about an end to the war, about cease-fire and humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Yemen.”
Comparing the Saudi-led campaign to Syria and Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition is targeting Islamic State militants, he added: “You will learn … that you are making a mistake in Yemen, too.”
Saudi Arabia and its allies maintain their involvement is not sectarian but rather an attempt to curtail an increasingly expansionist Iran they accuse of exerting influence in a growing number of Arab countries, including Yemen. Iran denies it is meddling, and accuses the Sunni Gulf countries of inciting sectarianism in the region.
Speaking on PBS News Hour late Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington has information that Iran is providing military assistance to the rebels.
