US expedites arms shipments to coalition bombing Yemen

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US, a key ally of oil-rich Saudi Arabia, had also set up a coordination center in the Sunni Muslim kingdom, whose forces have led an air campaign against the Shi'ite Houthi group which rules most of Yemen.

"Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message to the Houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun Yemen by force," he told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Sources in Yemen's eastern province of Hadramawt said the gunmen took over the desert base near Manwakh, about 440 km (270 miles) northeast of the capital Sanaa, killing at least two soldiers including the senior border guard officer.

The attack happened less than a week after al Qaeda gunmen attacked the Arabian Sea port of Mukalla, in a sign that Yemen's weakened army is failing to secure broad swathes of the country.

Fighting across hundreds of miles in the south and east of Yemen, along with the closure of airports and sea trade by the coalition, are pushing the country toward a humanitarian disaster, the United Nations says.

The UN said on April 7 at least 549 people had been killed in Yemen's fighting, including 74 children.

Urgent Red Cross and UN shipments of medical aid and sanitation equipment have been delayed while the organizations seek clearance from the Saudi-led coalition.

Aid groups have also struggled to find planes ready to fly into Yemen, but the International Committee of the Red Cross now says it hopes the first of two planes carrying a total of 48 tonnes of medical equipment will arrive in Sanaa on April 8.

Residents in the beleaguered southern city of Aden say water has been cut off for over a week in some districts, hospitals are running low of supplies and fresh food is scarce as street battles tear through neighborhoods and dozens of buildings have been burnt amid heavy shelling.