>> airstrikes continue in yemen. >> hello, this is al jazeera live from do ma. i'm adrian finnigan. also ahead. another capital false to syrian fighters. nigerians face violence and technical glitches as they choose the next president. plus... >> one viking long boat, a thousand hours of work, a sing craftsingle craftsman and a

dying art. i'm jonah hull in the faroe islands. >> saudi arabia said that houthis are mobilizing towards the saudi border and they have evacuated 86 people including diplomats and journalists from sanaa. it said that the ground force option is still being considered and it's defended it's strikes in yemen and says it's working to image myself the number of civilian casualties. >> the houthi militias are fortified inside houses of civilians. we've seen in the past few days they're putting anti-aircraft batteries over buildings and right in the middle of civilian populations so that would force us to bomb these areas and result in collateral damage of

innocent lives. the coalition forces we're seeking to minimize these targets. >> the king of saudi arabia has promised that the military campaign that the country is leading in yemen won't stop until security and stability are restored. king salman spoke. he has described the shia rebel movement as a grave threat to security across the region. >> these houthi militias supported by foreign forces were able to subvert the government and take control of the state and institutions turning a blind eye to all the cause. they continue to take action against the yemeni people posing a threat to regional countries.

>> also at the summit, abd rabbuh mansur hadi urged all yemenis to rise against the houthies in any way they can. >> i am adamant. i call on all the yemeni people to support the legitimate government of yemen and join forces to stand up to those militias. to take to the streets and peacefully demonstrate at suppressing their free will. >> qatar has told the arab league summit that all sides should negotiate for the good of the people. he said that qatar was confident about its relationship with iran. >> i will like to reiterate on the good relations with iran as

a neighboring country, this relation is based on mutual respect of state sovereigntyies and prevention of interfering in internal affairs. calling for assistance, and this call was heeded based on the latest developments. we call on all the parties and political forces to lay aside their differences, and give presidency to the national interests there is no military solution to the crisis in libya. the only exit is the political diplomatic solution living up to the aspiration of the libyan people. >> let's get some analysis now from al jazeera's senior political analyst in london.

king salman described the houthies as a grave threat across the region. is that a view widely held in in the arab league. >> most members of the arab league are supporting members arguing that the houthi control of yemen basically a militia that could not governor on its own was against the legitimacy of the government there and it's control of the southern city of aden, the second largest city but it is strategically located as a gateway and makes it quite dangerous for actually one-tenth of the world trade and certainly allows for an unprecedented iranian influence in the arabian peninsula something that has been viewed

with lots of caution and lots of anxiety among the gulf countries and arab countries who have been warning against the rising arraignen influence. >> we just heard the qatar aemir emir what key does qatar hold in de-escalateing this conflict, and preventing it from becoming something much bigger and more complex? >> this is very important adrian. i think he has basically underlined the importance that when this thing is resolved o how it's resolveed will involve the irans and iran is a very important country in the region, north of the gulf region and does exercise influence in a number of places.

at the end of the day dealing with iran is going to be important to reach the kind of stability that the arab league members speak of. and qatar has historically in the last several years hosted that kind of dialogue we've seen whether it is sudanese or palestinian, and they have proposed, and the yemenis accepted that a yemeni dialogue take place in doha. they once again understand the importance of the iranian position and however they need to be based on iran not interfering in others affairs. >> of course yemen, the issue of yemen dominating the arab league summit. another issue high on the agenda there. this unity force this proposed unity force, how much support is there within the arab league for

that? >> you know, at least on paper there is now support. this is an idea that was basically throwing around between the egyptians and the saudis, and the foreign minister's meeting did prove it, and i think the summit will bless it. how practical or actionable it is is whole other ballgame. this is not to lift the stage of gaza, something that the arab league has generally ignored the fact that there is a major crisis in palestine and israeli government that refocuses the peace process, and refuses the establishment of a palestinian state. in so many ways this would be an arab force that would be used in yemen and perhaps in libya. operationally speaking, logistically speaking and historically speaking there is

no precedent for the heavy investment and heavy coordination and sophistication to have a joint arab force that would make a difference in places like yemen and libya. it will be interesting to see whether this will be translateed into a real concrete united arab force. i, of course, remain skeptical. we already have a treaty, a common defense treaty among the arab leagues that is only gathering dust on the shelves of the arab league. >> many thanks. marwan bishara our senior political analyst in london. . >> there was an explosion on the arms depo in aden. loots than been reported at that compound in recent days as houthi rebels challenge the leadership of president hadi. there have been brigades, and

special forces was struck. and the sanaa airport has been struck and a weapons depo has been destroyed. at least eight people are reported to have been killed in two drive-by shootings technical glitches have forced the election commission to suspend voting in some areas. voting will now also take place on sunday. president goodluck jonathan and former military dictator are the front runners of 14 candidates. parliamentary elections are being held at the same time. we're live in abuja. tell us more about this election-related violence that we've seen today. >> well, adrian, security was always going to be a factor in these elections. you might remember that the

elections themselves were delayed by six weeks because of insecurity in the northeast of the country where the nigerian military and other forces from neighboring west african countries have been fighting boko haram. these attacks we're hearing about today have to be put in context. the authorities, the police and electoral authorities always anticipated there would be people trying to disrupt some of the voting, which is what they think they've seen today. and of course they have done, they say, a lot to protect the chances of a free, fair, and transparent election. you have to remember that there are over 120,000 polling stations that are being organized for people to vote in. and we're looking at something close to 60 million people that could be participating that have actually gone and collected their permanent voters card. the authorities are concerned they say about reports of these incident, but they're small scale and don't represent the

nation-wide picture in terms of the security around the vote. over all they say things are going reasonbly well. thousands of police officers, members of the military particularly in the northeast have been deployed to ensure that things go on peacefully, and so far things have not been too bad. >> you say things are not too bad. there are technical glitches. they introduced a new electronic reader sim that was supposed to make the process completely transparent and foolproof. that's gone wrong? >> well, that's right adrian, i remember four years ago because i was here, there was not this system that we talk about. it was a card reader proud in to very--so qatar tie voters and credit them before they could participate. there was a lot of debate in the run up of these polls how effective these card reeders

would be and how sensible it would to introduce them with such an election that is thought to be hotly contested. nonetheless, the electoral commission decided to go ahead with the card reader system, and they did admit there could be challenges in some areas. we hadremember, we have a power problem in this country. they anticipate that some of the card reeders that rely on power to work might not work properly. there are 120,000 polling stations. in the polling station we visited in abuja, it was clear that there were problems. it was achaotic scene and many of the election materials had not even arrived yet. and what the electoral commission are telling us, look, we expected these challenges. nigeria's military rule ended in 1999. it's been a democracy for 16

years. nigeria is after's largest democracy, adeann adrian. let's report on the complicated process of choosing nigeria's next leader. >> it's a process that is perhaps different in other countries. before voting in presidential and parliamentary elections voters must be accredited. they show their card that is scanned on a card reader. once it's verified the fingerprint is taken just to make sure that the card you have really belongs to you. >> they looked for my name. took my card. looked if i was there, bingo. >> it was peaceful. no harassment, or anything.

god help us to choose the right president for nigeria today. >> but there were complaints that the process was slow, disorganized and the card leaders didn't work. this man looks forward to exercising his democratic right. he knows the presidential race of president goodluck jonathan and the main opposition leader will be close and tense. >> i would like to see a country that is in joy and good. not fighting. the first war i fought. i don't want to fight in a war no more. i want peace. >> most others waited their turn. >> many people say they want the best for their country. no matter who wins. according to them the issues including corruption, unemployment, crime and infrastructure development. they hope which ever candidate wins will use the next four years in office working to improve the lives of all nigerians, not just a privileged

few. al jazeera. lagos. >> well, al jazeera has teams across nigeria covering the presidential and parliamentary election. journalists are supposed to be reporting from maiduguri right now in the north of the country but they're being detained in their hotel by their military. their equipment has been confiscated, and they've been confined to their hotel since tuesday accused of loitering and operating without accreditation. accusations that both they and al jazeera deny. al jazeera is demanding their immediate release. all right still to come here on al jazeera, a 12-hour siege ends. we'll tell you about the deadly strike in a hotel in somalia's capital. >> i'm jennifer glasse, 85% of of afghan's roads are in bad

shape, and rebuilding them is a big job.

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strikes on all those houthi rebels in yemen will not stop until the country is stable. nigeria's electoral commission voting for a day in certain voting stations. there has been violence in the northeast of the country with at least eight people killed in two drive-by shootings. in syria rebel groups led by the al-qaeda linked al nusra front captured in the north syd of idlib following five days of intense fighting. it is the second provincial capital to be fully controlled by rebels. >> reporter: the syrian army is gone and opposition fighters are now in control here. the city of city of idlib has been under the syrian government in this war. now it is the rebels who are now in charge. this fight was under taken by a coalition led by the al nusra

front, an al-qaeda affiliate. al jazeera spoke to a fighter in the city. >> the main reason for our advance in idlib city. there are no names all rebels are fighting under the one name offal fat at of al fattah. >> this appears to show fighters returning home reunited with their families after they say years on the battlefield. geographically idlib is hugely significant. it also connects the roam from ham in the south aleppo in the east and borders turkey to the north. close to a million people live in idlib plus many who have left their homes elsewhere. now thousands have left this

recent offensive. airstrikes have been carried out unprecedented in this area because it had been in government hands. idlib was seen as a relatively safe haven throughout this war. syrian state television with this image saying they are fighting terrorists. >> idlib is the second capital to fall. the fight for idlib took four days these a huge blow to the morale of the syrian army. >> afghan's president ashraf ghani said he wants afghanistan to be the crossroads of asia. but the state of the roads is a big stumbling to that. roads have been upgraded since 2001, but as jennifer

glass reports many are still too dangerous to use. >> these should be a busy street. but it's so bad few cars bother to use it. shopkeeper who look most afghans has one name blames this road for poor business. >> even a dog wouldn't walk here. >> it was built about five years ago with no sewers to drain water the tarmac quickly reverted to dirt. this is in capital. outside the problems are worse. like on afghanistan's highway one that links kabul to other major cities, poor security and maintenance make it a hazardous journey. >> the road to kabul is very bad. there are many craters from roadside bombs. there is no security at all.

>> they say they stop any abduction but they only guard parts of the highway. much of it is unsafe. >> basically the road gets dangerous. drivers say they often have to stop several times on their journey because of fighting along the way. or traffic jams where parts of the road have been blown up. >> afghan officials have an ambitious plan to build highways crisscrossing the country. they'll need international money and expertise. >> our private sector don't have that capability and experience to do the job which we want. which we need. >> afghanistan's mountainous terrain makes the task difficult. the world bank said that 85% of afghan roads are still in bad shape. most of the country's economy depends on transport so

connecting is needed to thrive again. >> a recommendation service has been held near the site of the germanwings plane crash to honor the victims and support theirs families. people gather in the church to pay their respects, all 150 people on board died when the plane crashes into the french alps on tuesday. authorities believe the co-pilot intentionally brought down the plane. troops in somalia have forced al-shabab gunmen out of a hotel when gunmen stormed in killing 20 people and wounding more. >> alal-shabab fighters were held up and sprayed bullets at

anyone in their way. witnesses say that some people jumped out of windows to escape, and loud explosions were heard. >> a suicide car bomb went off at the rear entrance of the hotel, and gunmen attacked. that caused more casualties. i saw injured people being taken to the mogadishu hospitals. >> they engaged the attack necessary a fire fight that lasted until saturday morning. the africa union mission in somalia also joined the operation to rescue hostages. among those killed were somali's permanent representative to the u.n. in geneva. many government officials will were caught in the siege. the hotel is popular among diplomat politicians and journalists. just the day early they announced the capture of two al-shabab commanders.

a campaign and stone strikes has not managed to stamp out al-shabab. they target and often killing civilians, and further siege of mogadishu is further proof of their threat in somalia. >> building boats in the faroe islands is not only an art form, but a tradition that is centuries old. there are very few skilled people left who can build the boat alone and by hand. jonah hull catches up to one man who is trying to stop the craft from dying out. >> the my father learned it from my grandfather and my great grandfather passed it on. i'm the fourth generation of my family to mr. these boats. >> long ships that explored the north atlantic more than a

thousand years ago. he's one of the few skilled crafts men still building them alone and by hand. >> it's the urge that keeps me going. when i wake up at 7:00 in the morning. it's not because i have to go to work. it's because i have this urge to create something. it gives me great pleasure to create and turn it into something useable. it means a lot. people are happy with what i've done. >> i heard people don't understand how you're able to create something like this without plans without designs. the suggestion seems to be that you have some kind of magical ability. >> i don't think so as such. i grew up with it as a small boy, and i was allowed to participate in everything and to

play in the workshop and help. >> sometimes that annoyed the adults, but we saw how things were made. >> do you worry that there aren't more people like you perhaps this is a dying art? >> i worry but maybe not that it will die out all together. but that it will not be done in the old way any more. the process is changing. now they make a lot of things with machines. that never happened before. before we used an axe to create planks of different thickness. we actually hacked it with an axe. >> that craft is dying out and with it generations of tradition among a people so closely connected to the sea. jonah hull, al jazeera in the faroe islands. >> two cosmonauts and an

american astronaut have climbed on board of the international space station. the mission is to test the effects of one year of weightlessness. >> new dawn in beijing, the ancient capital of the world's fastest growing country, home to the 2008 olympics. it's the vibrant centre, the super power, where the old wrestles with the new. communism clashes with capitalism and a new global