President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi arrives in Riyadh as raids on rebel targets are reported in Sanaa, Aden and Taiz.
Yemen's embattled president has left the country's southern city of Aden, to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt in a bid to consolidate support for the ongoing Saudi-led military offensive against Houthi rebels.
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi arrived in the Saudi capital on Thursday evening, before heading to Sharm el-Sheikh to attend the Arab Summit on Saturday, according to Saudi state television.
Hadi's trip followed air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition on Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa early on Thursday. He reportedly left the city of Aden under Saudi security protection.
On Thursday night, Al Jazeera received reports that new air strikes have targeted a reception camp of new recruits of forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh west of the capital Sanaa.
Hakim al-Masmari, editor-in-chief of the Yemen Post, told Al Jazeera that he could hear the sound of air strikes and gunfire in the capital.
Al Jazeera has learned that air strikes also hit al-Anad Air Base in Aden and the Tariq Air Base in the country's third city of Taiz. Eyewitnesses also reported air strikes and loud blasts in the northern Houthi stronghold of Saada, near the border with Saudi.
A spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday that the military operation against the Houthis will continue "as long as necessary." Brigadier Ahmed al-Asiri also said that "at the moment" there are no plans for the deployment of ground forces, but troops are "ready for all the circumstances."
Rights group Amnesty International said at least six children were among 25 people killed in the air strikes in the capital on Thursday. Earlier, Houthi sources said at least 18 people had been killed in bombardment.
Officials said the strikes, carried out by 100 jets from Saudi Arabia and coalition members, had hit targets in Sanaa, Aden, and Saada, a Houthi stronghold during the first phase of the military operation.
Houthi military barracks and air bases controlled by the rebels were destroyed in the operation, dubbed "Decisive Storm", Fayez al-Duweiri, a retired Jordanian general and defence analyst, told Al Jazeera.
Iranian condemnation
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Sanaa, Houthi spokesman Mohammed al-Bukhaiti called the military action a declaration of war on Yemen.
Yemen's ousted leader Ali Abdullah Saleh also called on the Houthis to stop attacking Aden, even as he denounced the Saudi air strikes inside his country.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking from Switzerland, warned that air strikes would lead only to greater loss of life .
"Military action from outside of Yemen against its territorial integrity and its people will have no other result than more bloodshed and more deaths," he told the Iranian-owned al-Alam television channel.
He also called for an "urgent dialogue" among the Yemeni factions "without external interference".
Iran has been accused of backed the Houthis in the struggle for control of Sanaa - a charge Tehran denies.
In a statement following the strikes, the White House said that the US was coordinating military and intelligence support with the Saudis but not taking part directly in the strikes.
Jeff Rathke, a US State Department spokesman, said on Thursday that the US government "understands the concerns" of Saudi is is "supportive of their effort".
The European Union, however, opposed the strikes with the EU High Representative and Vice President Federica Mogherini saying the operation "dramatically worsened the already fragile situation" and "risk having serious regional consequences."
"I'm convinced that military action is not a solution," she said, calling for an immediate return to negotiations to resolve the conflict.
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