UAE and Saudi warplanes which streaked over Sanaa most of the day on Tuesday appeared to have sent a deadly message to the coup leaders hiding underground in the capital by painting gallows in the sky with their exhaust smoke.

Residents in Sanaa, the main stronghold of the Iranian-backed insurgents, appeared to be excited by the deafening sorties over the capital by the F-16 and other jet fighters flown by UAE and Saudi pilots as the zero hour for a final offensive on the city looms.

The semi-official UAE daily Al Ittihad said many Yemenis who are suppressed by the insurgents inside their stronghold in the capital tweeted happily as they watched the warplanes roaring in the skies most of the day despite heavy rebel anti-aircraft gunfire.

The paper said one Yemeni tweeter described the pilots who defied rebel gunfire and streaked over the heads of the coup leaders on Tuesday as the falcons of the UAE and of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

“The falcons of Salman and the UAE have painted gallows in Sanaa skies. It is a very clear message to (Houthi leader) Abdul Malik Al Houthi and (deposed President) Ali Abdullah Saleh,” the paper quoted a Yemeni as saying on his Twitter page.

Another tweeter, Mohammed Al Dharafi said:”The fact that the coalition jets streaked over Sanaa at low altitude reflects their confidence that all heavy weapons controlled by the rebels in Sanaa have been destroyed.”