Yemen (Houthi government)[1] Yemen (Hadi-led government) Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates[3] Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi (in exile) Gen. Aidarus al-Zoubaidi Colonel Mohammed Hussein Al-Khaili Al-Shaibi Gen. Shallal Ali Sha'ya Gen. Muthanna Jawas(SSF commander)[9] Maj. Gen. Jaafar Mohammed Saad[10] Brig.

The battle began on 25 March 2015, as pro-Saleh troops seized control of Aden International Airport and Hadi fled the country by boat.

President Hadi was placed under virtual house arrest, but after a month, he managed to escape to his hometown of Aden in Yemen's south.

[20] After fighting over the airport broke out in Aden on 19 March[21] and Sana'a was hit by a suicide bombing attack the following day, the Houthi Revolutionary Committee formed to govern the country after the coup declared a state of "general mobilisation".

[22] With the support of some army elements, the Houthis launched a military offensive to take control of the south and defeat Hadi's holdouts.

His whereabouts were not known until 26 March, when he landed in Saudi Arabia hours after the kingdom began an air campaign to defeat the Houthis.

[29] However, warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition began to bedevil the Houthis as they moved their heavy armour and vehicles toward Aden, with airstrikes halting a convoy from Shuqrah early on 28 March.

[34] The Houthis and Saleh-loyal military units continued their attack on Aden on 30 March, firing artillery and rockets against the city near the Alam roundabout and attempting to advance deeper into it.

Even so, an aide to Hadi expressed confidence that the Aden government could defeat the ground assault without the help of foreign troops if the Houthis' supply lines were cut.

[39] Later, Houthi and allied Army units advanced in a tank column into Aden's Khormaksar district and the city center, where they battled with pro-Hadi troops and local residents for control.

Medical facilities in the city were reportedly overwhelmed, bodies cluttered the streets, and a number of buildings were set on fire.

[54] Reuters reported on 11 April that two Quds Force officers from Iran were captured in separate districts by militiamen defending the city from the Houthis.

[57][58] Coalition warships bombarded Houthi-occupied buildings as fighting raged in the Mualla, Crater, and Buraiga districts on 18 April.

[69] By 16 July pro-Hadi forces had retaken large parts of the port area of Mualla near Aden and entered the commercial district of Crater.

[75] On 3 August, Hadi loyalists, backed by Saudi and UAE ground forces, advanced to the north of Aden and successfully recaptured the Al Anad Air Base.

However, his tenure proved short-lived; he was assassinated in a bombing allegedly perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 6 December 2015.

[10][77] As of 10 April, The New York Times reported, most of Aden's defenders were residents who took up arms against the invaders, forming loosely organised militias to protect their own neighbourhoods.

[80] On 8 April, Medecins Sans Frontiers and the International Committee of the Red Cross were successful in delivering 2.5 tonnes of medicine and a surgical team, respectively, by boat to Aden.

[81] Egyptian warships shelled Houthi positions as they advanced on critical points in Aden,[36] and coalition warplanes repeatedly struck the attackers, as well as installations they seized.

[2] On 3 May, a small force of no more than 50 fighters from at least three Arab countries reportedly landed near Aden International Airport and took up arms against troops loyal to Saleh.