Cairo, March 27 (IANS/EFE): Four Egyptian Navy warships were deployed on Thursday to Yemen, a senior official from the Suez Canal Authority said.

The official explained that the ships entered the Suez Canal on Thursday around 11:00 a.m., and left the channel's waterway in the following hours to make their way to the southern Yemeni city of Aden.

The four vessels will join the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia with the endorsement of the Arab Gulf states, in the attack on Shia Houthi rebel positions in Yemen, the official said.

Egypt announced on Thursday morning its political and military support for the Arab military action in Yemen against the Shia Houthi movement, which has advanced into southern Yemen after taking control of the northern territories in February.

The Egyptian authorities said in a statement released on Thursday that "there is ongoing coordination with Saudi Arabia and the brotherly Gulf countries regarding the preparations to participate with Egyptian air, naval and ground forces, if necessary," to "defend the security and stability of Yemen".

Saudi fighter jets began airstrikes on Thursday morning against several Houthi military positions in different locations in Yemen, answering the call of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi for a military intervention to repel the Houthi offensive.

Following the aerial attacks carried out in the northern Yemeni province Saada, a rebel stronghold, Houthi militants and Saudi troops clashed in a border area between the two countries.

A military source in Saada, close to the Houthis, said that the Shia combatants moved to the Saudi border and were fighting the Saudi troops who had been deployed to Jabal al-Dukhan, located in the southern Saudi region of Najran.