Organizations Struggle To Bring Aid, Evacuate People In Yemen
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: A nation with a new leader and a new determination to assert its influence on an increasingly volatile region. Under the stewardship of King Salman, Saudi Arabia taking the lead in an Arab coalition aiming to hold a Houthi Shia uprising in neighboring Yemen. Airstrikes have been underway for 11 days. A ground operation still very much in the offing. As Saudi's traditional allies in the west seemingly grow closer to its old rival Iran, Riyadh reminding the world it is still a force to be reckoned with. Well, I'm Becky Anderson. And this is Connect the World live throughout this week from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.</s>ANNOUNCER: Well, we join you this week from the powerhouse of the Sunni world, never far from the headlines, a nation entering a new era with a point, it seems, to prove. Saudi Arabia wants stability throughout this region, most pressingly in Yemen. Throughout this week we'll be live from Riyadh as we investigate how the country is putting its plans into action. Well, you're looking at exclusive CNN video of what's left of the international airport in Yemen's capital. Saudi-led forces have unleashed a barrage of airstrikes on Sanaa to root out Houthi rebel forces. Now despite this offensive, rebels still control the capital city and are gaining ground in the south. Our crews captured this footage during a rare four hour window there -- while those airstrikes were halted to allow the evacuation of some of the thousands of people trying to get out of Yemen. Our senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir was on that flight.</s>NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're on the ground. You can see the runway is unharmed, but all around it you really get a sense of the impact of those Saudi airstrikes. You can see behind me some of the aircraft carriers, some of the military aircraft all destroyed. All the while we've been here this Houthi military police car has been circling the plane. Time really is of the essence of this evacuation operation. And it's ticking down. We're waiting for the passengers to be brought on, but they're still nowhere to be seen.</s>ANDERSON: Well, Nima joining us now live. Nima, what you witnessed quite remarkable. You talked about the dereliction and the desperation on the ground. What more did you see?</s>ELBAGIR: Well, soon after finally the passengers began arriving, Becky, and they were just running towards that plane only able to take on what they could carry. Many had been in Yemen for decades and they'd left all of that behind. This operation that the Indians are carrying out -- the Indians, the Russians, the Chinese trying to get as many of their nationals and any others that can come to either port or airport out of Yemen. It's really been extraordinarily complicated and so huge in scope. I want you to take a listen to what the Indian deputy foreign minister said to us. He's here overseeing this operation. Take a listen, Becky.</s>GEN. VIJAY KUMAR SINGH, INDIAN MIN. OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS: Our aim is to take out maximum people. We have, if you count today's number, in excess of 2,500 we would have evacuated to Indian in a humanitarian effort, nationalities don't matter. We look at everybody in a manner in which we can assess them. So we have got besides Indians, who remain the first priority, who always will be first priority for the government of India, but anybody else coming we have been evacuating them.</s>ELBAGIR: Already 2,500 people, but it really absolutely gives you a sense of how many they've managed to get out, but also how many tens of thousands are still trapped inside of Yemen unable to get to those crucial points, the ports, the airports able to get to safety, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: What have you got there? Nima Elbagir reporting for you. Well, we are also trying to get to (inaudible) where Nic Robertson will be standing by for you. The communications not easy. That down on the southern border of Saudi with Yemen. We'll get to Nic just as soon as we can. Well, multiple news outlets say the Kenyan air force has bombed two al Shabaab camps in Somalia, Nairobi's first major response to last week's university attack. The air strikes on the camps in the Jido (ph) region come just days after al Shabaab militants massacred nearly 150 people at Garissa University in eastern Kenya. Well, meanwhile Kenyan authorities are hoping a reward for a lead to the capture of the man they believe planned the massacre. CNN's Christian Purefoy has more on the manhunt and the lingering impact of that deadly attack.</s>CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESOSPONDENT: Kenyan authorities have named what they say is the mastermind behind the attack that killed 147 people at Garissa University. He's a man in charge of the militia along the long porous border of Somalia and cross border attacks into Kenya. But here's what we know so far. (voice-over): This morning, Kenya on heightened alert. Even Easter prayers, shaken. The security checks outside churches. Kenyan forces on guard after the terrorist group al Shabaab threatened, quote, "another bloodbath," over the weekend. Relatives, grieving, in complete anguish as Kenyan forces remain on the lookout for the al Shabaab militant behind the Garissa University attack that killed nearly 150 people. The government says Mohamed Mohamud, wanted for a bounty of more than $200,000, is the mastermind. Known by other aliases, the former religious teacher is the regional al Shabaab commander in the Juba region of Somalia. According to a ministry document given to CNN, the al Qaeda linked militant is in charge of external operations against Kenya. Garissa sits on one of the longest religious fault lines in the world. A largely Christian sub-Saharan Africa to the south and a mostly Muslim population to the north.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our forefathers bled and died for this nation and we will do everything to defend our way of life.</s>PUREFOY: Meanwhile, Kenyan's interior ministry identifying another attacker, this man, an apparent home-grown terrorist, Kenyan Abdirahim Abdullahi. The 20 something son of a Kenyan government chief of Somali dissent. His father says his law graduate son has been missing since 2013, last working for a bank. The ministry says he disappeared to Somalia last year. I think it's important that when we talk about these people and use phrases such as "mastermind," they are really just using the most basic means as possible to kill as many people as possible. Back to you.</s>ANDERSON: All right, Christian Purefoy reporting for you on Kenya. I want to get you back to the situation in Yemen. You heard from Nima Elbagir just a few minutes ago about what she witnessed when the plane that she traveled on from Djibouti to Sanaa landed in the Yemen capital. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins me now from Jizan (ph) on the Saudi-Yemen border with the latest developments from there. Nic, what can you tell us?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we've been up on the border today. And we've seen one of the new border posts up there. It's a combined border posts between the army, the Saudi army, and the border guards. They don't normally do this, normally it's the border guards alone, but they've reinforced the position there. It's high on the mountains. The commanders say that if they see Houthis coming towards them they will attack them. Soldiers there say that that outpost was most recently attacked about six days ago. But that's what we're seeing all along the border here is an increase in security, new sandbags in place, new heavy machine guns, new sniper rifles, new high powered binoculars and thermal imaging, new roads being built into the mountains, an increased number of security service personnel up there. And all of this is because the Saudis see the security situation in Yemen deteriorating, they believe that the Houthis want to attack them -- the Houthis have threatened to invade Saudi Arabia. Indeed, three Saudi servicemen have been killed so far -- they're border guards -- along the border. We went to talk with the father of one of them just yesterday. He said he was proud of his son, but his son had had a job behind a desk, but had been rushed along, with other reinforcements, to the front line. His father said his son wanted to be there. The family has had huge support. The defense minister came down to meet them. The interior minister came down to meet them. The defense minister, of course, the next but one in line to the throne here. So a lot of official support being given to that family and the deceased border guard's 7-year-old son shown a lot of affection by these military and political leaders here, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Nic, how would you describe the scope of the military effort in the region that you are in, which of course is along this incredibly long and porous border with Yemen. And any evidence to date of incursion from Saudi into Yemen? And how significant would that be if that indeed were to happen?</s>ROBERTSON: It would be significant if it did happen. We -- when we go to the border, go under escort with Saudi border guards. We're not free to go down there ourselves as the controlled zone. So that's the way we get our access. But from what we've seen, predominately, the Saudi army is aligned behind the border guards. Where we were today, they were together, but principally behind. Tanks, perhaps, half a mile behind those border guards who are riht on top of the border line itself. We've seen camps of army reinforcements, hospitals, communications equipment, you know, repair equipment sort of ready to support that operation close to the border. We've seen heavy army and tanks move towards the border. But it seems at the moment as if the army is postured here in a defensive position. But this is a zone where there is a real security concern. There are additional checkpoints around the cities. I hear fighter jets flying overhead now. We hear them occasionally. The schools in this area close to the border are closed. They remain closed. Just this weekend, however, the government said that government offices could reopen in this area. So there's a lot of concern. This is a changed environment. I was here two months ago, Becky, and it's different now.</s>ANDERSON: Nic Robertson reporting from very close to the border in the south of this country. This is Connect the World coming to you live from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. A country taking a more asserted stance in regional affairs. Coming up, opposition from inside Yemen over the destruction caused by the Saudi-led airstrikes like this one. And I'm not talking about pro-Houthi factions here. We're going to hear from an activist who doesn't want to see any outside involvement. But let's be clear this isn't simply about Saudi Arabia wanting to quell a rebellion just across its border, we break down Riyadh's bigger aim, if you will, when it comes to exerting influence. And the kingdom is not the only one growing its profile. My interview with Jordan's Prince El Hassan and how his country is getting involved not only in Yemen, but also in the fight against ISIS. All that is coming up. First, though, we're getting some gruesome details of Iraqi government forces are finding in Tikrit. Just days after driving out ISIS militants, they found at least eight mass graves. And it's believed the victims were Iraqi soldiers captured and executed by the group last June. CNN's Arwa Damon was at one of the grave sites in Tikrit just a short time ago. She filed this report.</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Three bodies have been recovered from this particular site so far and the teams are working on a fourth that they just pulled out of the dirt and placed inside another of these bags. The hands on this particular corpse were bound and we did see them on some of the others. This is very difficult work for the teams. And it's also emotionally difficult as well. Earlier, there was an impromptu ceremony held here to commemorate those who had been killed. Many people were in tears. Now in this particular site they're saying so far -- and they've been working for about four or five hours now, they have found nine bodies. This is a fairly large mound. They believe in this location they might end up finding about 20 or 30. So far, they have pinpointed eight sites here inside the presidential compound in Tikrit scattered throughout this sprawling area. Another two locations have been identified outside of the city on the way to camp Spiker. Now the vast majority of these casualties, and you see the corpse, the remains being carried away there, but the vast majority of these casualties, if not all of them, are believed to have been the victims of what is now known as the Camp Spiker massacre when ISIS fighters brutally, mercilessly murdered hundreds if not upwards of 1,500 recruits when they first took over this area back in June. The families of the dead have desperately been waiting for answers about what happened to their sons. Many of them had been pleading with the government to get this process quickly underway. But even though it has begun, it is going to take a very long time to actually exhume all of these various bodies, and then DNA testing will be underway as well. What we are hearing from one survivor we spoke to earlier and from experts on the site is that ISIS divided them up into smaller groups and then executed them at various different locations. One survivor who is hear who we spoke to came back, because he said he wanted to look for his friends. Arwa Damon, CNN, Tikrit, Iraq.</s>ANDERSON: Well, still to come tonight, ISIS extending its reach. We show you the terror group is recruiting in Afghanistan in an exclusive report. That is in about 20 minutes time. But first as the sun goes down here with the call to prayer behind me, how is the Saudi-led war against Houthis in Yemen being viewed from here in Riyadh and in the capital of Yemen, Sanaa? That's after this.