Pro-Houthi forces retreat from Yemen's Aden presidential palace

ADEN, Yemen

Forces loyal to the Shiite Houthi militant group have retreated from the presidential palace in Yemen's southern Aden city following dawn strikes by Saudi-led warplanes, according to security sources and eyewitnesses.

The sources told The Anadolu Agency that pro-Houthi militants had abandoned Aden's presidential palace in the early hours of Friday following the airstrikes which left an unspecified number of militants injured.

On Thursday evening, the Shiite militant group said that allied military forces had managed to seize Aden's presidential palace following intense clashes with vigilantes loyal to embattled President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Hadi fled to Aden in February from Houthi-held Sanaa in hopes of reinstating his embattled presidency from the southern city.

However, the Gulf-backed president fled to Saudi capital Riyadh late last month after Houthi militants struck his Aden residence.

For the past eight days, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have been pounding Houthi positions across Yemen.

Riyadh says its anti-Houthi campaign comes in response to Hadi's appeals to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."

Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country.

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.